Planting The Seeds Of Wetland Restoration

America’s Wetland is the seventh largest delta on earth and is the heart of a complex ecosystem on the edge of disintegration. Louisiana is home to 40 percent of the nation’s wetland and experiences 80 percent of the coastal wetland loss in the United States. It is estimated that Louisiana is losing 35 square miles—the equivalent of 21,000 football fields—of coast each year.

Saving this precious resource will require a great deal of help from a variety of sources. The Louisiana Sea Grant College Program at LSU and a host of other supporters have formed a unique project called Coastal Roots: School Seedling Nursery Program for Wetland Restoration, involving the talents of middle school and high school students.

The overall goal of Coastal Roots is to assist students in developing an attitude of stewardship toward our natural resources and to provide them a constructive, active learning situation in which they can explore strategies for sustaining our coastal ecosystem.

The program establishes wetland seedling nurseries at schools located within the coastal zone in Louisiana. These school nurseries are capable of producing native wetland plants for use in habitat restoration. Students oversee the entire growth cycle of the plants, from seed germination to the planting of the seedlings in the restoration program. Currently, 14 schools from 10 parishes in south Louisiana are participating in the project.

The Coastal Roots program supports the goals of Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable Coastal Louisiana, which include creating and sustaining marsh habitats, maintaining habitat diversity, and preserving the exchange of energy and organisms within our coastal environments.

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Written by Robin Dunkin | University Relations
May 2003

Related Links

School for the Coast and Environment
Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program
Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana

Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Internet 2 University Member