Tree by Bernel L. Davis

This past Saturday morning, at Braithwaite, Louisiana, near the mouth of the Mississippi River, volunteers from the University of New Orleans and Tulane University came together to plant trees.  I was among them.  Tree planting and similar activities are part of organized, ongoing efforts to protect Louisiana’s coast from erosion.  Trees, because of the extensive root system that they develop, help anchor the soil.  Trees help keep the land from being washed over the continental shelf, never to return.

The volunteers, about 35 of us, gathered early under pleasant skies and moderate temperatures, conditions that persisted throughout the day.  We were provided lunches, then, transported by airboats (those small, noisy, amazing swamp vehicles that travel equally well on land or water) a short distance to the day’s planting site.  Once there, we broke up into groups of three or four to look out for and to help one another.  Despite the muddy terrain, no one complained.  In fact, it became our source of entertainment to watch others bogged down, boot deep, and unable to move until someone came to aid them.  The mud made our planting efforts easier, and the trees (bald cypress and blue tupelo) seemed to be happy in the wet soil.  We each put in a full day’s work; we, were then returned safely to our gathering spot.  Once there, many of us volunteers expressed a feeling of personal accomplishment, a day, we agreed, well worth our efforts.

Larger, more formal projects—sediment diversions, levee building, and floodgate construction, for example—are underway in Louisiana to fight erosion, but, for me, a direct hands-on experience is more meaningful.  Agencies such as Coalition To Restore Coastal Louisiana (last Saturday’s project sponsor) make it possible for more concerned parties to get involved and lend a hand to help save the coast.