St. Matthew the Apostle students enlarge ‘green footprint’ at Spillway

Their challenge: Transplanting the 642 bald cypress, water oak and persimmon trees they had grown from seed at their River Ridge school to the green ribbon of pasture between the Norco levee and the Bonnet Carré Spillway.
 

“We’re building a forest on the edge of this Spillway. We have a lot of work here to do, so we can’t waste time,” said Pam Blanchard, co-director of the LSU Coastal Roots program, which engages Louisiana students in the slow-but-steady work of coastal restoration through the planting of native trees and grasses.
 

 “When the Spillway floods, the cypress trees do really well,” Blanchard told the young volunteers from St. Matthew, showing them how to use a dibble – a modified shovel – to dig the optimal hole for the seedlings. Blanchard directed them to plant their young trees five to six feet apart, and then to gently yank on them to make sure they were securely anchored in the soft earth.
 

“We want the soil to hug the roots,” Blanchard said. “I call it putting them to bed.”
 

To finish the job, the student-planters tied a piece of pink roller tape to each seedling to prevent future visitors  from trampling on them.
 

As the forest matures, it will reduce the carbon footprint – by taking in carbon dioxide and giving off oxygen; protect the treeless levee above from erosion when the Spillway floods; provide a noise buffer for the adjacent residential neighborhood; and increase the Spillway’s bio-diversity – by providing more food and nesting options for wildlife, such as water birds. On the day of their outing to Norco, the students spotted the nest of a bald eagle and its occupants flying not far from where they were working.
 

The St. Matthew seventh graders completed their joint project with LSU Coastal Roots with the help of a service-learning grant from the Joe and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation. A habitat restoration program founded in 2000, LSU Coastal Roots helps the state’s young people create seedling nurseries on their school campus, complete with a sprinkler system. When the seeds grow into healthy trees, they are planted along Louisiana’s coast, or in watery ecosystems such as the Spillway.
 

“Every spring, we get our seeds – our sixth graders plant them and have to take care of them throughout the summer and into the fall,” explained Joan Madere, St. Matthew’s middle school science teacher. “When they’re seventh graders, they come out and plant their trees.”
 

When school is in session, Madere assigns rotating groups of students to weed, fertilize and check the nursery’s rain gauge. The youngsters sign up to care for the seedlings over the summer.
 

LSU’s Blanchard, who visited St. Matthew last year to prepare the seventh graders for their field trip, gave the school’s tree nursery an “A-plus.”

“Your trees are so beautiful and healthy!” Blanchard said, marveling at the cypress seedlings’ well-developed root system. “So, we want to give them every chance to grow successfully.”
 

The young volunteers said they were excited to finally get their hands dirty, having seen their outing postponed twice due to rain. Ironically, on Feb. 18, they were fresh from a science unit on photosynthesis and cellular respiration.
“We’re happy that we’re doing something for the benefit of the community. When we come back here, we can say, ‘That’s what we did!’” said seventh grader Evan Guidry of the hands-on science project.
 

“We got to really see how trees grow from seed to little trees like this,” Evan added. “Our trees will help get more species here (on the edge of the Spillway plain), instead of just having a big lawn. It shows how a lot of people, working together, can get a lot done.”
 

Seventh grader Caroline Baur was enchanted by the beautiful setting, which is mostly hidden from view by the levee.
 

“The trees (planted here previously) are doing really well. It looks like it’s a good habitat (for them) to be in,” Caroline observed. “It’s a really unique project to do, and it’s fun! You can learn while you’re having fun!”
 

Fifty schools in 21 civil parishes currently participate in the LSU Coastal Roots program (and four schools in Chile). Other native trees planted through the program include Tupelo gum, swamp red maple, loblolly pine, Nuttall oak and longleaf pine. Bitter panicum, a species of grass, is also cultivated and planted on Grand Isle and the beaches of Cameron Parish.