Wetlands Restoration: A Volunteer's Tale

April 19th, I joined Common Ground volunteers and environmental workers in planting on the coastal wetlands. We were going to plant spartina, a grass that thrives in the salty water and damp soil of the wetlands. The benefit of planting this grass is great: its roots help anchor the soil, preserving the wetlands and helping to prevent further erosion. Two other volunteers and I drove out to the Westbank town of Lafitte, bordering on the Intracoastal Waterway. There we met with another three environmental workers, and soon the six of us were in a small motorboat, eager to plant. We reached our first destination about twenty minutes later – a small island off the Waterway. The banks in the section where we arrived were noticeably barer than those of most the other small islands.

We jumped on shore, and I was surprised by just how strange the soil was. It was springy and moist, and if you were not careful, you could quickly find yourself knee-deep in the wetlands. On the island were burlap sacks filled with approximately 2000 plugs of the spartina. Soon, we were all planting plugs in neat rows along the shore and deeper in the island. Everybody was in good spirits, discussing the wetlands and their future. An hour later, the small section we were working on looked much greener than it had before.

We climbed back into the boat, and started out for another section to plant in. Soon we arrived at another patch, looking similarly bare to the first section. Within a few moments, however, we found the main difference: the soil here was much less firm. Even moving cautiously, I found myself sinking in again and again. We were a mess! The planting was much slower going. At the same time, the benefit of what we were doing was even clearer at this site: the best places to stand were the ones with vegetation. It was obvious how much of a difference the plants made. Without the plants, all that was left was muck, unable to support itself and likely to erode away in the next big storm. These little spikes of grass were what kept this strange, beautiful terrain together!

Some time later, we left for our final destination, a patch that had suffered a great deal from a population of nutrias. The nutria looks much like a large rat, and is an invasive species that has thrived since it has been introduced to Louisiana. The nutrias are a particular nuisance in this area, due to their great appetite for wetlands vegetation. As soon as we arrived, we saw large mounds of chewed-up vegetation all around, a classic sign of nutria infestation. Despite the disheartening sight of the plants we had lost, and an unbelievable number of enthusiastic mosquitoes, we pressed on, and planted the last few hundred plugs of spartina.

We happily sped away, missing the mosquitoes not one bit, but also looking back on how much we had planted, and how we had worked to preserve a strained habitat. A lot was accomplished in one day out in the wetlands, but there is still so much more that needs to be done to allow this crucial environment to be healthy again.

written by Thomas Matero

Wetlands project description
Wetlands Accomplishments
Click here to see pictures of the Wetlands project working at the Audubon Louisiana Nature Center and here to see pictures of the most recent planting.

Click here to listen to Laura, Wetlands Restoration Coordinator talk about the wetlands project and here to listen to Elaine Jezmer, a wetlands volunteer talk about working with the Wetlands project.
Click here and here for media coverage of Common Ground Wetlands projects.