Daily archives "March 17, 2023"

Day 1 – Woodlands Conservancy Preserve, Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans, Lower 9th Ward Levee, & French Quarter Saint Patrick’s Day Parade

First day in New Orleans was a whirlwind! We were welcomed to the Woodlands Preserve with a thunderstorm, listened in on Dr. A’s orientation and Tom’s botanical identifications, heard a presentation from Nathan with the Preservation Resource Center of New Orleans non-profit organization regarding historical architecture and incentivizing residents in maintaining them, visited the devastating site of flooding during Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in the Lower 9th Ward and the unfortunate insufficient rebuilding done, and ended the day with a free couple of hours at a parade in honor of Saint Patrick’s Day in the French Quarter!

Day 1 – Woodlands Conservancy Preserve Overview

Welcome to Woodlands Preserve!

Some quick safety notes to start with:

• It is okay to leave your non-valuables in the pavilion near the parking lot. Valuable items can be left in the Van. 
• Machete training will take place on our first day in the field.
• DO NOT mess with any reptiles. Act as if they are all dangerous and/or venomous.
• Be aware of blackberry brambles and possibly poison ivy.
• Both vehicles have first aid kits but make sure to inform Zach of any items you use. 

We are working on the Woodlands Preserve site with Woodlands Conservancy. The 649-acre parcel of land was initially owned by the Plaquemines Parish (functionally equivalent to a county). For 18 years Woodlands Conservancy managed this property and maintained trails under the parish. On January 18, 2022 the protection of the property, now known as Woodlands Preserve, became protected in perpetuity for future generations via acquisition of the property by Woodlands Conservancy and the donation of a conservation servitude to Land Trust for Louisiana. There is more information about it on their website here. 

This area is a swamp. Swamps are forested wetlands and marshes are herbaceous wetlands. Typically swamps transition into marshes as you approach the coast. Unfortunately there has been a lot of habitat fragmentation in the New Orleans area. The Mississippi River naturally saturates these wetlands with water and deposits large amounts of sediments along its banks. Levying the Mississippi has caused the ground to sink and water to stagnate. The soil has been compacting with little addition of new sediments. 

When Hurricane Katrina hit this specific swamp it clearcut the dense overstory canopy layer. This also occurred when many invasive species were seeding. This spread invasive seeds throughout the preserve that now had a lot of sunlight in its understory. 

Within the next week we will be monitoring the preserve using band transects and permanently installed plots. We also have a drone that will monitor the canopy from an aerial view. Hopefully later in the week we will get the opportunity to use camera traps and sticky traps to observe some of the fauna in the area.

Here’s us waiting to get our day started in the pavillion