The Roots of Change

Boaters can see wetlands restoration and conservation taking root right here in the Lake Maurepas marshes, thanks to dedicated researchers and students from Southeastern Louisiana University.

Through a partnership with Air Products, Southeastern Louisiana University researchers and their students will be able to plant 2,000 cypress trees every year for three years. This is one of many projects that is a part of Southeastern’s Lake Maurepas Monitoring Project which supports independent biomonitoring research of Lake Maurepas. Researchers will independently monitor the environmental health and safety of the lake during the construction and operation of the Louisiana Clean Energy Complex.

Over the course of many decades as trees have died or been removed, the marshland in the Lake Maurepas area has washed away. Southeastern Research Associate Nicholas Stevens, a wetland ecologist working in Dr. Gary Schaeffer’s lab, said subsidence dates back to the early 1900s when the area was logged and trees were removed. Fewer trees means less marshland.

“There have been a few replantings that have been

done here previously, but none of the replantings have been successful,” Stevens said, noting that the area where the students and researchers are working was planted in the early 2000s, before Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana, with about 44,000 cypress and tupelo trees. Only around 100 out of 44,000 survived from that planting.

In addition, the entire Lake Maurepas area saw environmental change because of the closing of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, which brought saltwater into nearby Lake Pontchartrain and increased the salinity of Lake Maurepas as well. Thanks to the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet’s closing more than 10 years ago, the water is returning to what Stevens says is a more “normal” level of salinity, which means now is a great time to be planting trees in the Lake Maurepas marshlands.

Stevens says, “Having Southeastern students – or even students from local high schools or other groups – participating in tree plantings in Lake Maurepas is a win-win because they gain a connection to a critical wetlands restoration project while helping to preserve the land. Students and groups can learn about the larger issue without having to travel many hours away to difficult-to-reach locations.”

“It’s not the easiest thing to do to bring a group out to do a planting like this because a lot of times you have to travel pretty far or you have to get on a boat

and then travel even further,” Stevens said. “So the fact that this is so close to home where we can essentially take kids off of school buses and bring them out here and educate them, I feel that’s definitely important because like I said, it’s a lot easier to get large groups of students out here and it’s pretty easy to traverse compared to some other locations.”

Even better, the students have a connection to Lake Maurepas and the issue of conservation.

“Those students might live in this area and can come out and go fishing and tell their friends or their family like, ‘Hey, I planted those trees,’” Stevens said.

To learn more about Southeastern’s Lake Maurepas Monitoring Project, visit southeastern.edu/ lakemaurepas.

To learn about Air Products’ commitment to the environment and safety, visit community.cleanenergylouisiana.com.