Day 8
Fun day working in the forest and finding some really awesome looking trees! 
Day 6
Today started out with our plant surveys. After completing a lot of work we headed to southern Louisiana where the decline of wetlands is very drastic and problematic.
We met up with a man named Foster. He spoke to us about the land of southern Louisiana. I learned that southern
Louisiana did not always look the way it does right now. The Mississippi River is a delta, or a river that naturally divides into smaller rivers and empties into a larger body of water. This means that over time the Mississippi River twists and turns, changing and evolving the land. As it flows the river carves and deposits large amounts of nutrients and sediments from higher parts of the river. However, today there are levees in place along the Mississippi delta that keep it flowing “straight”, making it a river and preventing it to naturally occur as a delt. The purpose of this is to prevent the river from branching and alternating which would then result in the formation of sand bars in the middle of the river. Sand bars would inhibit the pathway for cargo boats. The Mississippi River is known for its selling and trading ports. If the river were to alter and form sand bars, the industrial boats would not have access to the city. In turn this would impact the city economically, but the levees are also impacting the city environmentally.
Man has depleted majority of this land within the last 120 years. As a result major environmental consequences have occurred. The biggest consequences were caused from-
(1) Harvested oyster banks for food and other uses- causing a decrease in water filtration of the ocean
(2) Cutting down of cypress trees for their wood- accelerating the depletion of wetlands and inhibiting the wetlands ability to act as a buffer against storms
(3)BP oil companies- oil spills causing negative affects on wildlife and then their ability to contribute to their niche in the ecosystem.
(4) Levee industry- the installation of levees throughout Louisiana which have prevented the land from naturally draining and caused more unnecessary flooding.
Together these factors serve as a catalyst for wetland degradation. Over the last 50 years the state has seen a significant loss of wetland. If nothing is done, it is predicted that the amount of land lost will increase significantly.
The real debate comes down to whether it is more important to save the city or the enviornment. However what most people do not seem to realize is that if we don’t save the enviornment, there will be no city.
Foster shared with us some ideas to restoring the land
(1) Lower the levees and utilize a drainage system allowing the delta to flow again
(2) Build homes higher to prevent effects of flooding
(3) More projects
The main idea is that a balance needs to be found if we wish to see recovery in Louisiana. However it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take a lot of change, education, and knowledge. But Foster is confident that it can be done. 
Mark Schleifstein
Mark schleifstein is an environmental journalist for the Picayune Times at Nola.com. He has written numerous articles about hurricane Katrina and exposing the unsafe levee conditions.
Quick history about the times: It was basically a solid newspaper business, but with the rise of the Internet the business slowly began shrinking. The company had to downsize drastically along with numerous other newspaper companies. Due to growing utilization of the internet, Mark created Nola.com which allowed all publications to be posted online. In addition he also reduced the amount of days that the print papers were delivered from seven to three. This was necessary in order to make the business thrive again. Most of the community did not seem to like this. One of the more affluent citizens (millionaire) founded the “New Orleans times” to rival Mark’s paper. They distributed 7 days a week, but it’s range is not large enough to be considered competition. However, due to the founder being wealthy, the company usually doesn’t worry about money or going out of business.
After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, new flood walls were built in order to counter the storm surge from future storms. In addition, a 26 foot wall connecting three wetlands was built facing the Lower Ninth Ward. It was termed the “golden triangle”. The height of this wall could not be built any higher without the side effect of sinking into the sediment. If water spills over this wall, it can be reserved within the wetland areas.
A similar flood wall was built along the industrial canal to a height of16 feet. On the western bank, only 40% of the levees had actually been completed. Since this area has never been built on before, the ground has not compacted enough to hold the levees. In the same area an industrial grade pump was installed. The purpose is meant to pump water out during hurricanes to reduce the amount of flooding.
The Louisiana 2017 draft costal master plan indicates that 120 projects will be built, 150 billion dollars saved in future damage costs, along with over 800 jobs established. What they fail to mention is that the land lost in their future projection is still greater than the land gained.
Day 5
Anther full day iut here in Louisiana. We started our morning off bright and early on the trail doing our plant surveys. Later in the day we attended the Historic New Orleans Collections in the French quarter. Here we learned about the history of the Mississippi River and the development of Louisiana and. A guest speaker named harry spoke with us about the levee failures We then went to a news company known as Nola.com. We had the opportunity to speak with a journalist about the news company, hurricane Katrina and the levee failures. In the end we talked about the future outlook of hurricane protection for southern Louisiana.
After a long and informative day we ended the night by listening to some fantastic upbeat piano music at a place called Chickie Wah Wah.
Day 4
Today was a full day of plant surveying! I learned a lot about the cypress tree and the current problems this species is facing in the southern deciduous forest here in Louisiana.
As shown in the picture below, the roots of this tree (and many others) are completely exposed. This is not normal. Typically the roots are completely covered by soil and water. However due to humans the soil level has dropped. That’s right, the soil has become so compact due to the loss of water and organic material that it caused soil levels to drop.
What’s causing the water to disappear? Humans. When humans moved to Louisiana they started to drain the wetlands in their desire to inhabit the land. As population size increased, the demand for more land also increased. Therefore causing humans to drain more and more water from the land. Over the years the extraction of water from these wetlands has caused a dramatic decrease in soil levels. This decrease has caused the roots of the trees to become more exposed to oxygen. Furthermore allowing bacteria, fungi, and microbes to attack it and begin decomposition. As the roots become decomposed, the tree slowly becomes to weak to hold itself up. The end result is the collapsing of cypress trees and a decrease in the population.
Day 3
We had a full day in Louisiana (literally). In the morning we went to a New Orleans cooking class. We broke up into groups and worked together to make the many parts of a full course meal- appetizer, soup, salad, entree, and dessert. Yesterday we all walked to the neighborhood market to pick out fresh ingredients. My group was assigned to create the dessert. We decided to go with a pound cake covered in locally grown strawberries.
When everything was done we sat down and tried each others homemade Louisiana food. For appetizer we had stuffed bell peppers, then we had a vegetable soup, followed by a salad with creole vinegarette, then shrimp jumbalaya, and lastly the pound cake. Everything was delicious! My favorite was probably the soup or the jambalaya.
After being stuffed from our amazing five course meal we headed to the trail to begin our first transects (plant surveying). It ended up being a gorgeous afternoon surrounded by green plants and wildlife. While surveying we found a tiny green snake in the leaves on a plant, and we also saw an armadillo!
We’re excited to head to the trials in the morning!
Day 2
Another full day in beautiful New Orleans! We spent the morning learning about the history of the French Quarter. On our walk we stopped at the neighborhood farmers market. Afterwards we were given an opportunity to help out a local organization called Capstone. Capstone is this incredible self sustaining group that gives back to their neighborhood. They have developed a self sustaining system, called an aqua culture, to grow crops. Which are then distributed throughout the neighborhood at local gardens for the community to use. They also make their own honey!
By the afternoon we received a tour of the site we will be performing restoration at called Woodlands trail. This is a deciduous forest which was damaged during the storm of hurricane Katrina. However the forest is still trying to recover. My favorite part of today was learning about the different tree species that we will be surveying within this ecosystem. Luck for us the Mulberries were ripe, we couldn’t stop eating them!
Day 1
Today was a beautiful day in Louisiana! We had the opportunity to learn about the history of the levee’s and their role in the community and hurricane Katrina. We had time to explore and we tried beignets, walked around the French Quarter, saw some original art, and listened to some lively jazz music. 
Pre-New Orleans Experience
I am very excited for this trip. From everything that we learned in class I can just tell I am going to love it out there. I am not quite sure what to expect. I know that I will be receiving an experience that is going to be eye opening. I expect to come back with the knowledge of another culture and a better understanding of what the people of New Orleans went through with hurricane Katrina. I am curious to see the destruction that was left behind, and to learn more about the failure of the levies, and the affects of sea level rise on the plant species. I cannot wait to learn about a new ecosystem and culture!