|
||||||
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||
|
Restore America's Estuaries Conference in New Orleans
The opening plenary session consisted of three keynote speakers, starting with Department of the Interior (DOI) Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett, whose remarks highlighted the importance of the human element in restoration work. The gravity of this point with respect to coastal Louisiana was brilliantly expanded upon by the two succeeding speakers: Nick Spitzer, host and producer of National Public Radio's American Routes; and Mike Tidwell, author of Bayou Farewell and The Ravaging Tide. Despite the lingering effects of Hurricane Katrina, the theme of the conference was rebirth, not only of New Orleans but of the national relationship with wetlands. Sixteen field trips enabled conference participants to explore cultural attractions, bayous, and restoration efforts around the city and coastal Louisiana. Theresa participated in a restoration project in New Orleans' 150-yr-old City Park, where she and other volunteers removed post-Katrina debris and planted native plants along the lakeshore. Theresa, Amy, and Doug joined a group of 20 conference attendees for a tour of the Tchefuncte Marsh wetlands-assimilation project along the north edge of Lake Pontchartrain. The marsh functions as a sewage-treatment facility for the 12,000 residents of Mandeville, while providing "green infrastructure" and critical habitat along the rapidly developing lakeshore. After the tour, the group embarked on a canoe trip through one of the last intact lakeside marshes to observe how the natural environment endured Hurricane Katrina. Guy, along with Tim Smith, Curtis Tanner, and Rich Innes of the Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership, visited the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion Project outside of New Orleans. The Davis Pond diversion is an example of large-scale ecosystem restoration resulting from a successful State, Federal, and local partnership. The group saw firsthand some of the biological response to the restoration project. The RAE conference takes place every other year and has been held in Baltimore, Md., and Seattle, Wash. The New Orleans conference was the largest to date, an encouraging sign that the idea of restoration is engaging broader audiences and offering opportunities for USGS scientists to provide science to the growing habitat-restoration effort.
|
 |
in this issue:
Submarine Ground-Water Discharge at Dor Beach, Israel
Chinese Delegation Briefed on USGS Science Restore America's Estuaries Conference
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
previous story
