Breaux Act Newsflash - Christmas Tree Program and Hypoxia in the News
***********************************************************************Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Newsflash
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CWPPRA Public Meeting
January 16, 2008
9:30 a.m.
Technical Committee
Baton Rouge
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For Immediate Release
DECEMBER 17, 2007
DNR
Miles and Miles of Trees help Save the Coast
The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources announced today that the
popular Christmas Tree Fence program will continue this holiday season.
This marks the 18th year that DNR has provided grants to coastal parishes
allowing them to use recycled Christmas trees to help protect wetland
areas by slowing wave action and erosion.
"This is a classic win-win project. Not only do we keep Christmas trees
out of landfills, we put them to work protecting our valuable coastline,"
DNR Secretary Scott Angelle said.
"This is also an excellent outreach program. It's a way for families to
actively participate in saving Louisiana's wetlands," Angelle said.
The participating parishes are Calcasieu, Iberia, Jefferson, Lafourche,
Orleans, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin, St.
Mary, St. Tammany and Vermillion.
Southeastern Louisiana University is also participating with a project at
its Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station. For more information about
recycling trees in Tangipahoa Parish, call the research station at
985-549-5355.
In these coastal parishes, wooden fences have been built in shallow
open-water areas to hold the discarded trees. Those tree-filled fences act
as a barrier to wave action.
"We encourage people to check with their local recycling or sanitation
department about Christmas tree pick up dates and locations. Trees must be
free of all tinsel, flocking, ornaments or bases and cannot be in plastic
bags," said Keith Lovell, DNR Coastal Engineering Project Manager.
(more)
Add one---Trees for the Coast
"In this season of giving, this project keeps giving for years and years,"
Lovell said.
For more information about the Christmas Tree program, contact, Lovell at
225-342-0202 and visit the website at www.dnr.louisiana.gov.
Local community newspapers provide further recycling/waste instructions
throughout the holiday season. Citizens can call the following parish
offices for questions and schedules:
Calcasieu 337-721-3600
Iberia 337-369-4427
Jefferson 504-736-6440
Lafourche 985-632-4666
Orleans 504-658-3800
St. Charles 985-783-5060
St. James 225-562-2260
St. John the Baptist 985-652-9569
St. Martin 337-394-2200
St. Mary 337-828-4100 ext. 520
Editors: For more information on this topic, please contact DNR Public
Information Office at 225-342-8955.
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Christmas Tree Project Volunteer Opportunity
When: January 12, 2008 8:00:00 AM
Description: Marsh Restoration Christmas Tree Project: Preserve
Louisiana's Wetlands Volunteer Opportunity Age: 17 and up
Affiliation: BTNEP Volunteer Team and the Jefferson Parish Department of
Environmental Affairs
Location: Cochiara's Marina 4477 Jean Lafitte Boulevard in Lafitte,
Louisiana
Contact Info: Mel Landry, mel@btnep.org 1-800-259-0869
For More Information on The Christmas Tree Project, visit LaWEC (Louisiana
Wetland Education Coalition) on LaCoast.gov
http://www.lacoast.gov/education/lawec/
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Gulf Hypoxia Mapping and Research Funding at Risk
Baton Rouge - The federal funding of two critical programs for the mapping
and study of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico is at risk. Programs at
Louisiana State University (LSU) and the Louisiana Universities Marine
Consortium (LUMCON) have mapped the spread of hypoxia off the Louisiana
continental shelf since 1990, and provided models for understanding how
nutrient loading from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers influences
the spread of hypoxia, a condition of low oxygen in the water column that
can extinguish marine life.
"These programs are our key tools for understanding hypoxia in the Gulf,"
said Doug Daigle, Coordinator for the Lower Mississippi River Sub-basin
Committee on Hypoxia. "Losing the programs that map and model this problem
- or losing the greater part of their federal funding - will be a serious
setback for the national effort to deal with the Gulf Hypoxic Zone."
The LSU and LUMCON programs have been funded through competitive grants
through the National Ocean Service and National Centers for Coastal Ocean
Science under the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control
Act. Their funding comes in the President's Budget for the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), under an "Extramural Budget
Line" that also funds hypoxia research in Texas, the other state affected
by the Gulf "Dead Zone." (For more information, go to the website
www.cop.noaa.gov/stressors/pollution/current/gomex-factsheet.html .)
"The 2007 Hypoxic zone was the third largest measured, and spread well
into Texas' coastal waters," said Daigle. "The spread of hypoxia in the
Gulf threatens some of the nation's richest commercial and recreational
fisheries, and the continuity of research by the institutions with the
greatest expertise in this area is critical."
Lower Mississippi River
Sub-basin Committee on Hypoxia
c/o School of the Coast & Environment
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, La. 70803
504-258-7028
www.epa.gov/gmpo/lmrsbc/
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[Edited 2007-12-18 -webmaster]