JIL'˚'Coastal Roots

jIL''Coastal Roots

May 15, 2009

http //coastalroots Isu edu

Chandlers Donate Funds for a

Coastal Roots Research Vehicle

Or. Pam Blanchard, CR Oirector, LSU Oept. of Educational Theory, Policy 8 Practice;

Or. Ed Bush, CR Co-Oirector, LSU School of Plant, Environmental and Soil Sciences;

Mr. Oavid Bourgeois, CR Co-Oirector, Associate Fisheries Agent, LA Sea Grant ILSU AgCenter

The LSU Coastal Roots Programis the beneficiaryof a generousgift made to the LSU Collegeof Educationby Harmanand RenaeChandlerof Shreveport, Louisiana.The Chandlersmade possiblethe purchaseof a researchvan to ferry

materials and equipment to and from school visits, installations, plantings and

public exhibitions.Mrs. Chandleris a graduateof the LSU Collegeof Education, and they both haveties to the Louisianaforestryindustry.The Chandlerswere thanked in person at the LSU Collegeof Education'sCentennialCelebrationon May 1, 2009. We are very gratefulto the Chandlers!

Nine CR Teachers & One Student

Co-Present at NSTA

Nine LSU Coastal Rootsteachersand one studentco-presenteda talk entitled"LSU Coastal Roots: EcologicalStewardship+ EnvironmentalLiteracy= Meaningful Learning"at the NationalScience TeachersAssociationAnnual Meetingon March22, 2009 in New Orleans.Co-presentingwere Gina Egan and Natalie Lartigue Belle Chasse Middle!, MarLane Dows Central High!, Mona Herbert, Claudiaand StefanSuazo MetairieAcademyfor AdvancedStudies!, Linda Messina St. Joseph's

Academy!, NessieGalliano Our Ladyof Mercy!,

Jennifer Williams Isidore Newman!, Kate

Marchal St. Martin's Episcopal!,Edward Bush,

Pam Blanchard, and David Bourgeois. They shared how they combine science-based learning, native plant nurseries, and ecological stewardship to help their students become environmentally literate about coastal issues in Louisiana. They did an outstanding job. Pam Blanchard was also

invitedto give a talk on Coastal Roots,of course!

at the National Earth Science Teacher Association's

BreakfaSt. Picturedabove,backrow,lefttoright:MarLane

Dovvs,Nessie Galliano,David Bourgeois,Gina Egan, Ed Bush,

Mona Herbert,Pam Blanchard,ClaudiaSuazoand Stefan

Suazo. Frontrovv,left to right: Kate Marchal,Linda Messina, NatalieLartigue,and Jennifer Williams.

ger

LSU Coastal Roots Summer Institute

set for June 26-27 in New Orleans East!

Mark your calendarsand get readyfor some hands-onlearning!Our CR Summer Institutewill be June 26-27,2009 in the New Orleans East area.Among the activitieswe are liningup: water qualitytesting,a canoe trip out into the marsh, NOAAresources,distributionof our 1st editionof the LSU CoastalRoots Compendiumof Coastal,Wetland,and RestorationResourcesfor LouisianaEducators!Registration

information and details will be forthcoming! Mark your calendars!

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PrepareYourCan Yard Now for Summer

0/. Ed Bush; LSU School of Plant, Environmental, and Soil Sciences

Summerhas arrived.Beforeschoollets out for summervacation,we needeveryoneto perform somesimplemaintenanceon your can yards priorto lastweek of class.

1. Increasethe water rateto at leastto 1"for the plantsper day in the nursery.Ann Gray Blanchardshowedyou howto do this at the JanuaryCR Workshopat Our Ladyof Mercy.If you need informationon howto do this, contactPamfor instructions.

2. Cleanall of the screenson the emitters.Do this by unscrewingthe emitterfrom eachof the risersand rinsingthem out. The smallwhite filterscan be scrubbedwith a toothbrush.

Reassemble and rescrew them to the risers, but be sure not to over-tighten them as they can crack and then will need to be replaced.

3. Checkyour timerto makesure it is workingand that the batterylight is not "on". If you do needto replaceyour battery,pleaseuse DURACELL9-voltbatteries.Makesure the rubber gasket is cleanbeforereplacingthe batterycover securely.

4. Makesureyour principal,office staff,and maintenancepersonnelknowyour phonenumber and howto contactyou in case of an irrigationfailure.Checkingthe yard a coupleof times a week will help reducethe possibilityof failures.

5. If you haveshadecloth, nowwould be a goodtime to put it over your yard. Shadeclothsare NOT requiredfor mostyards. Remember,these plantsgrow in their naturalhabitatsin full sun. If you thinkyour plantsare heatstressed,let Pamknow,so we can determineif a shade

cloth is necessary.!

If for some reasonyou can't checkon the plants,you maywant to bringthe plantsto your house.Someteachershavedone this as a lastresort.If you can't watchthe plantsin the summer pleasecontactPamor me andwe can see aboutfindingyour trees a summerFosterHome. Rememberwe are in this projectto showthe studentsthe successof stewardship.The last thing we want is a bunchof dead trees.So, communicatewith Pamor me if there is a problembefore the end of the year so we can fix any problemsbeforethe summer.It has been a greatschool year and is goingto be even better nextyear with our experiencedand new schools.See you at

the Institute!

America'sWetlandConservatioCnorpsandUSDA/

NRCS Golden Meadow Plant Materials Center

Team Up to Help LSU CR Schools

On Monday February 23, 2009 America's Wetland Conservation Corps members Jacob Bourgeois, Trevor

Powell, Tanner Powell and Blake Robinson pulled 2,800

spartina, panicum and paspalum wetland plants at the USDA/ NRCS Golden Meadow Plant Materials Center GMPMC! for five new Coastal Roots schools. Coastal Roots has partnered with the Golden Meadow Plant Materials Center to provide

starter plants for these new schools in coastal Louisiana.

Special thanks go out to Mr. Morris Houck, USDA/NRCS Plant Materials Specialist, Dr. Richard Neill, Garrett Thomassie, Mark Felarise and Alexis Luke at the GMPMC for helping to

make this happen.

This newsletter was partially funded by the LA Department of Natural Resources. The contents of this document do not necessarily represent the views of LDNR.

This publicdocumentwas publishedat a totalcost of $971.81.Two hundredcopies of this publicdocumentwere publishedin this first printingat a cost of $971.81.The total cost of all printingsof this document,includingreprints,is $971.81.This document was publishedby the LSU CoastalRoots Program,LSU Departmentof EducationalTheory,Policy,and Practice,223 Peabody Hall, Baton Rouge, Louisiana70803,to provideprograminformationto teachersand others interestedin the LSU Coastal Roots Program.This materialwas printedin accordancewith standardsfor printingby StateAgenciesestablishedin R.S.43:31. Printing of this materialwas purchasedin accordancewith the provisionsof Title43 of the LouisianaRevisedStatutes.

LA Wetland Ambassador Day

The LSU Coastal Roots Programand the LUMCON BayousideClassroomProgramcelebratedour

first Louisiana Wetland Ambassador Day on May 9, 2009. Hosted by the Louisiana Universities Marine

Consortium,seven schoolssent two studentsalongwith their teachersto participatein this fun and educationalday. Participantstook a two-hourride aboardthe LUMCON RN Acadianaand participated

in land-based activities such as a marsh walk, water quality testing, Louisiana bird identification, and net

and bucketfishing. Everyonereceiveda tee shirt and a certificateof participation.Studentsand teachers

will take back their Ambassador Day experiences to share with their schools and communities. Funding

for thisprogram was madepossible througha LouisianaDepartmentof Natural Resourcesgrant and a grant throughthe National Oceanographicand AtmosphericAdministration'sBay-WatershedEducationand TraningProgram.

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Putting Down Roots - plantings in Dec 08-Jan 09

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Watch for CR on TV!

ArchbishopChapelleSchool in Metairie,and environmental

science teacher, Joann Haydel, were filmed for a public service

announcement PSA! entitled"Makingthe Grade",which highlights schools in the New Orleans area that are going above and beyond usual classroomactivities photos at left!! The Chapelle PSA highlightstheir CR work for restorationpartner,Bayou Savauge NationalWildlife Refuge.The PSAis now showingon WWL Channel4! in the greater New Orleansarea.

Central High School students top photo at right!

and their teacher, MarLane Dows, and Westdale

HeightsAcademic ElementaryMagnet School

lowerphotoat right!andtheirteacher,MaryLegoria,~

were filmed as part of a documentaryentitled"GREEN 4 NIIISIANA"producedfor WWL by filmmaker Dave

McNamara. Westdale students were filmed planting

cypressseeds and Central High studentswere filmed plantingcypresstrees from their CR

nursery last March at their restoration

partnersite, BREC Blackwater ConservationArea in Baton Rouge.The 30-minutedocumentarywas

originallbyroadcasotnEarthDayA, pril19,2009o, nWWL.Itisscheduletdo r~

rerun in primetime in late May on WWL.

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Collecting Seeds and Pulling Plants!

David Bourgeois, LA Sea GrantiLSUAgCenter, Associate Fisheries Agent

AfterThanksgivingweek,StacyHessat LafayetteMiddleSchooltriedto arrangea seedcollectiontripto

GrandIsle,butschedulingproblemspreventedit. Beforewe knewit,the ChristmasHolidayswereuponusand I

knewifwe putthisoffanylonger,theremightnotbe anymangroveseedsleft.So,onJan.6th,I rusheddownto

GrandIslewithAmerica'sWetlandConservationCorps AWCC!volunteersJ, acobandTrevor,to gatherwhat

would be the last mangrove seeds available this year. There were thousands that had washed up to the tide line,

but not very many were left on the bushes.

Jacob, Trevor and I picked what we could off the bushes and even salvaged a few from the

water's edge. After carefully packing them away in the truck, we left for the long ride home. I

wondered whether they would grow this year, because almost everything we picked last year died.

JacobandTrevordeliveredhalfof ourseedsto LafayetteMiddleSchoolon Fridayin routeto their

AWCCtrainingat LakeFaussePoint.I deliveredthe remaininghalfto MontegutMiddleSchoolon

Wednesday. Melanic Boulet was in her class and asked that I stay for a while and give the students

l.

a primer in black mangrove biology. The question of the day

was how many seeds were in the bucket. After recording

everyone's guesses, students began the task of counting the

seeds. 600 was the lucky guess.

The next collection trip was on January 21" to gather smooth cordgrass

Spartinaalternatfora!for ArchbishopChapelleHighSchool.FourAWCC

volunteers, Jacob, Trevor, Tanner and Blake collected about 600 plants in

record time at the USDA/NRCS Plant Materials Center in Golden Meadow.

Thanks Dr. Richard Neill!

Helping Hands

Thanks go to Tommy Blanchard, Jr., for preparing the landscape timbers that are used to create the

smooth cordgrassponds for CR. He drilledthe holes

and aligned the rebar in the landscape timbers to make the installation easier. Thanks, Tommy!

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