Travel Course Gulf Coast

Spring semester, Professors Sean Michael and Keith Christensen took ten students to learn about and experience coastal communities in Louisiana and Texas. The trip was jokingly called the 2023 Crawfish Tour; puttin’ the LA in LAEP. And yes, they experienced an amazing crawfish boil in New Orleans, as well as many other coastal culinary delights. The entire field trip was a remarkable experience for the students and faculty.

The trip began in New Orleans and explored the many historic and culturally significant landscapes of the area, including the work being done to address sea level rise and inundation during weather events. It was particularly interesting to be exposed to a perspective on water management that is very different from that of the Intermountain West’s scarcity perspective. Our students joined with students from the University of New Orleans and Dana Brown & Associates to tour a recently constructed stormwater demonstration garden, and spent time at the botanic gardens, coastal park projects, and examining the social impacts of natural disaster mitigation strategies.

Leaving New Orleans, the students had the remarkable opportunity of a guided tour of Evergreen Plantation on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

Evergreen Plantation is the most intact plantation complex in the South with 37 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, including 22 slave cabins. Evergreen holds the highest historic designation, including landmark status for its agricultural acreage, as well as unfortunately being recently identified as one of the 11 most endangered historic places in the U.S. Exploring Evergreen was a profound opportunity for our students.

Louisiana State University’s landscape architecture program hosted our students on their campus where they were able to share our respective programs. While there they toured the LSU Center for River Studies which houses one of the world’s largest movable bed physical models; the Lower Mississippi River Physical Model. Our students were truly immersed in the Mississippi River, Louisiana’s disappearing wetlands, and ongoing coastal restoration projects across the coast.

Continuing along the coast to Galveston Texas, they explored and learned about the impact of hurricanes, and the petroleum industry, on coastal communities. They finished the Crawfish Tour in Houston, where LAEP alumni Jereck Boss (BLA ‘93) and Kali Clarke (BLA ‘21) graciously hosted us at the offices of OJB. The exceptional landscapes found in Houston were a great way to conclude the remarkable experience in the coastal region of Texas.

The 2023 Crawfish Tour was a wonderful experience for all involved!