Posted on March 11, 2020
Volunteers planted about a thousand bald cypress trees in the Barataria Basin near Lafitte last week in a bid to reduce coastal erosion.
The $20,000 project was a partnership between Jefferson Parish and Jefferson Beautification Inc., a nonprofit focused on tree planting, and was funded by discretionary money from the office of Parish Council District 1.
Resource Environmental Solutions, a Louisiana company, was contracted to plant the trees. It also donated 500 trees grown in its Pointe aux Chenes Nursery.
“We committed to funding this project because we understand the importance of reducing coastal erosion for the future of our parish,” said Ricky Templet, who held the District 1 seat when the project was funded but is now an at-large councilman. “Without coastal restoration efforts, the loss of our wetlands will continue to increase, which means we are more vulnerable to storm surge.”
About 400 trees were planted along the western shoreline of Bayou Des Oies, more commonly known as Goose Bayou, and 600 were planted along the southern side of Bayou de Fleur.
Crews installed biodegradable nutria guards around each tree, and the area is protected by Christmas trees recycled through Jefferson’s Parish Christmas Tree Recycling Shoreline Protection Project.
Over its 30-year existence, that program has diverted hundreds of thousands of trees from the parish landfill into the marshlands to protect and restore wetland habitat, which is vanishing at the rate of about a football field per hour, the parish said.
“We are excited to add a coastal planting to our usual public landscaping projects portfolio that we’ve worked on throughout Jefferson Parish for the past 30-plus years,” said Debbie Settoon, a board member of Jefferson Beautification Inc.
“The native bald cypress species was chosen for its ability to grow in wetter areas with existing emergent growth, eventually building a more stable land ridge to reduce erosion,” she added.
Source: nola.com
