We spent the morning at Woodland Plantation, where we got a tour of the facilities from the owner, Foster. He told us about the history of the land and buildings on it. It was such a neat place, and I think I can speak for the whole class in saying that I wish we could have stayed longer!
Today has probably been the best day in New Orleans so far. It was a beautiful rainy day and we all got to see really big alligators up close and personal. We then attended an event here in NOLA known as China Lights and finished off the day by attending an awesome jazz club,eating beignets and drinking hot chocolate.
This morning we woke up at the Woodland Plantation. Foster, the owner, gave us a tour of the property and took us to feed the resident alligators. The rest of the day was thunder and lightning, so we ate lunch, made our way to the hotel, then went to the New Orleans Chinese Lights Exhibit. It was a relaxing and beautiful day.
Our field work continued on Monday after we finished our first trail.
Sometimes, especially in the field, you do what needs to be done in order to identify plant species.
Today we fed alligators and helped a environmental and historical activist restore a gazebo. Next we went the Chinese lights festival and saw light art in a botanical garden, there we also saw plate spinners, jugglers and the art of face changing.We also we to a zydeco concert which was excellent.
Had a great day making a garden. It’s wonderful doing good for someone. It was a lot of work and labor but it was sure worth it!
Had a great day helping the community in the Lower 9th. We helped seal cracks in a house so a future paint could be done. We also helped complete an Aquaculture. What a fascinating thing! David, who built the aquaculture is a Genius. Once we were done we went to CBD and met with two people, a journalist and lawyer. We got a great presentation on lawsuit for the levees and a had a good discussion about what hurricane K has down to Nola. It was a great day!
So a big part of the work we are doing here is dividing up parts of the Woodlands Trail, and counting/measuring the amount of invasive species (Chinese Privet, Tallow, and Chinaberry) that is visible throughout the forest. By breaking up into teams and dividing the forest up into transects and recording what we see.
Recording Sheets
What makes our work so crucial is that students from our school have been coming for ten years to study the impact that invasive species, hurricanes, and humans have had on this landscape.
Jay and Patrick walking the trail
Yesterday we started our day in Buros, Louisiana building a community garden at Carol’s house. This part of Louisiana was deeply affected by Hurricane Katrina and hasn’t quite recovered, so it felt good to help out and built that garden.
After that we drove down toward Venice, Louisiana and the Southern most point of the state. It was crazy seeing the Gulf of Mexico and how salt water had eroded the cypress marsh.
We then made our way to Woodland Plantation and had a crawfish boil for dinner and stayed the night. We just finished up breakfast and I am excited to walk around the property and learn more about the history of this place.
Yesterday we traveled farther south to aid a man named Carol with creating a vegetable garden. After Katrina he was an active community servant helping others with rebuilding. During his service he saved his son from falling in a hole by pushing him away and falling in the hole himself. By doing this he broke many bone and had to have his knee replaced. As a result of his surgery he can no long bend over and plant his own gardens. We all came out and dug up a garden; we tilled the land and planted a big variety of vegetables.
After we left Carol’s, we drove the the Southernmost tip of Lousiana and saw a Cyprus forest that I was being overtaken by saltwater intrusion from the Gulf Of Mexico.
then headed to the Woodland Plantation where we partook in a crayfish boil. It was the first time I tried crayfish and it was delicious!
