2022 Schedule – Central Time

This trip will visit the Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve, a pristine longleaf pine savanna protected through a partnership between The Nature Conservancy and Land Trust for Louisiana (LTL). Explore this ecologically diverse habitat with carnivorous plants while learning about restoration management and conservation achievements through wetland mitigation. Enjoy lunch in the heart of Northshore longleaf pine conservation, followed by a 5-mile bike ride along the scenic Rails to Trails “Tammany Trace” to an LTL mitigation partnership with St. Tammany Parish adjacent to the Pelican Park Recreation Area and Fontainebleau State Park.

In 1895, over 95% of the land of what is now known as the city of New Orleans was above sea level. In the years that followed, a combination of geology and engineering decisions have sunk 50% of New Orleans below sea level. We’ll visit the historic New Canal Lighthouse and talk about how this came to be over coffee and bagels. So as not to not to be left with that “sinking” feeling we will travel to our Cypress Nursery and to the Bucktown Marsh to talk with wetland ecologists and coastal scientists about successful efforts using urban public lands to help combat the city's subsidence by building back wetland areas to protect our shores.

This tour will visit a wide selection of Green Infrastructure sites across New Orleans that were constructed and maintained by Groundwork New Orleans. The nine tour sites include Groundwork New Orleans Earth Lab, Mirabeau Water Garden and Touro Street Environmental Justice Initiative. You will learn about multiple land usage strategies centered around Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Management and enjoy lunch on the Lafitte Greenway.

Join us in Mississippi to learn about the former Logtown and The Point communities (once the site of the largest mill in the south). Then, take a 3-mile hike through native ecosystems to the Infinity Visitor Center at Stennis Space Center, where you’ll explore their exhibits, including impressive native biome gardens. Finally, head over to the Lazy Magnolia for local beer and pizza and learn about Hancock County Port & Harbor’s mitigation/conservation easement project.

On this trip, we’ll explore the eastern edges of New Orleans and neighboring St. Bernard Parish to understand the intersection of land loss, restoration and structural flood protection. We will start our day with a visit to a ghost swamp to illustrate the land loss crisis and the impact it has on coastal communities. Following that, we will tour Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana’s Oyster Shell Recycling site to understand this innovative and successful restoration program. Finally, hop on an oyster boat to see the great wall of Louisiana, and enjoy Vietnamese po-boys from the famous Dong Phoung bakery.

Woodlands Conservancy owns 840-acres of forested wetlands approximately 8 eight miles from downtown New Orleans. Learn how this small nonprofit used data from bird and vegetation surveys to gain awareness and support for saving this vital habitat from development. We will do a 4-mile round trip hike to a forest restoration site on our way to a grouping of ten WWII Ammunition Magazines nestled in the forest The hike will be followed by a New Orleans style po-boy lunch before heading back downtown to and a visit to a local brewery.

New Orleans is the “canary in the coal mine” of climate change and innovation in climate adaptation. It is a city of diverse cultures, birthplace of jazz and roots that run deep into Africa. We will discuss the intersectionality that exists in a city beloved around the world. The four major topics covered in the tour are environment and ecosystems, post-disaster recovery and lessons learned, intersectionality of culture and politics, and water and climate adaptations.