NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Multiple organizations will work together this year to plant more than 30,000 trees, 33,000 plugs of marsh grasses and 40 plots of aquatic vegetation in the Central Wetlands.
According to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), around 2,000 square miles of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands have turned into open water since the 1930s.
The goal of the planting project is to re-establish a bald cypress and water tupelo bottomland hardwood forest near New Orleans.
The Central Wetlands are in St. Bernard and Orleans parishes. They’re bordered by the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System on the eastern side and the 40 Arpent Levee and Canal on the west side.
CRCL leaders say factors like the opening of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet and heavy logging destroyed the forest that provided storm surge protection to New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish.
The Central Wetlands Reforestation Collective is receiving $715,256 over three years from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and a commitment of $404,643 from the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority over four years for the work.
The organizations involved in the project are the CRCL, Common Ground Relief, the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, the Meraux Foundation, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and Pontchartrain Conservancy.
Volunteers are needed. The organizations plan to mobilize over 2,000 volunteers. To sign up, visit each of the organizations’ websites.
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