In wetlands near New Orleans, hundreds of young saplings wrapped in white protective cylinders rise out of calm waters behind a pumping station near Lake Borgne—an image organizers say reflects a long push to rebuild Louisiana’s coast after Hurricane Katrina. The groups, which are now in the final year of a four-year effort, are working toward planting 30,000 native trees in the marsh, with the goal of restoring the wetlands’ role in absorbing and slowing storms, reducing erosion, and limiting saltwater intrusion.
Lehew, the executive director of Common Ground Relief, said the project is also a direct response to the psychological and practical aftermath of disaster. “We’re one part of a larger movement to resist this sort of ‘doomerism’ mindset, and to show that recovery is possible,” Lehew said. She added that people may never return to a “pristine image of the past,” but that the project helps “gain something back,” according to her comments.
To carry out the work, organizers say they ferry volunteers week after week by airboat and bring supplies to multiple planting sites. The operation includes a trailer stocked with equipment and snacks, with rubber boots in different sizes ready for volunteers, AP reported. Organizers said the plants they expect to establish are native wetland trees such as bald cypress and water tupelo, intended to grow into a protective forest as roots help hold soil in place and support wildlife habitat.
Much of the work is grounded in what organizers and partners describe as a shift in wetland conditions after Katrina. The Associated Press reported that Hurricane Katrina killed over 1,000 people and caused more than $100 billion in damage in 2005, and that the storm and its aftermath contributed to the loss of the natural barrier of wetlands. Organizers said much of that barrier was later degraded, in part because saltwater moved into freshwater ecosystems around New Orleans, which they said poisoned many trees.
The AP story also traced the causes of that saltwater intrusion to engineering changes earlier in the region’s modern history. It said that after the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the government moved into a new era of levee building, and that by the mid-1960s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed a shipping channel called the Mississippi River—Gulf Outlet Canal (MRGO). The report said MRGO ultimately became a pathway for Katrina’s storm surge into the city and that the resulting saltwater intrusion worsened conditions for the wetlands.
Organizers said the MRGO was shut down in 2009 and that environmental groups began reforesting afterward as salinity levels dropped. They said several organizations came together about five years ago to pursue federal and state funding for a larger project, described as spreading two large grants across different volunteer bases and using different planting techniques. Within that larger effort, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana has planted about 10,000 trees out of a 15,000-tree quota, according to Andrew Ferris, a senior coordinator for the coalition’s native plants program, who said the group expects to finish by next year.
AP also reported that Blaise Pezold, who started planting trees around 2009 and is now coastal and environmental program director for the Meraux Foundation, described the restoration as previously constrained by access and conditions. “It was thought to be too low, too salty, Katrina messed it up too much, and we would have to focus on areas that were easier to get into,” Pezold said. He added that the closing of MRGO and the reduction in saltwater changed what sites the coalition could attempt, saying, “The Central Wetlands Reforestation Collective has kind of allowed us to be very adventurous in the sites we choose.”
Beyond the ecological goals, organizers described the tree planting as a way to process grief and rebuild. AP reported that for some Louisiana residents, helping restore wetlands has tied personal experience to long-term recovery, including the ability to teach younger generations what rebuilding can look like. Ashe Burke, described by the report as an wetlands restoration specialist for Common Ground Relief, said Katrina hit the day after Burke’s 8th birthday and that it “changed us all,” while emphasizing continuing forward motion. Another partner, Rollin Black of the Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, said seeing children take part brings “a little bit of joy” and that it may encourage families to stay in New Orleans, AP reported.