FROM THE DESK OF EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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NATIVE PLANT PROGRAM (NPP)
Planted 1,200 trees and 100 irises over 4 workdays through our CRUSH initiative in the In many ways, 2021 was a difficult year for those of us
Maurepas Swamp
in south Louisiana. We endured another 12 months of
33 volunteers to install 2,500 linear feet of sand fencing and plant 10,000 bitter
the pandemic, and people are still suffering from one
panicum plugs
side of our coast to the other, as well as far inland,
determined that there was no significant damage to our sites
after the devastating hurricanes of the past two years. We say it a lot here, but never before has coastal restoration been so important and so urgent in Louisiana. Fortunately, despite the challenges, we accomplished a lot in 2021 thanks to our friends and supporters like you. For instance, we built our fourth oyster reef, this one in the waters of Plaquemines Parish, where it will help minimize erosion and create habitat for new oysters to grow. We helped educate a diverse set of young people about the importance of our work through our Future Coastal Leaders and Student Ambassador programs. We helped facilitate public participation in the process of permitting the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the most important coastal restoration project in Louisiana to date, as it nears construction. And we hosted our biennial State of the Coast conference, in virtual format, welcoming hundreds of scientists, students, educators, elected officials, industry leaders and more to the conversations about our coastal challenges and solutions. We know that our work is not done, and there are major milestones on the horizon for this year. Among them: We plan to build our fifth and sixth oyster reefs; we’ll recognize the heroes of Hurricanes Ida and Laura through our Stewardship Awards; we expect to gather in person for our annual oyster Shell-
Restored critical dune habitats in Rutherford Beach by engaging Monitored our plantings in Maurepas after Hurricane Ida and Mobilized CRCL staff in
a volunteer day to assist a native plant supplier in Hurricane Ida recovery efforts
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OYSTER SHELL RECYCLING PROGRAM (OSRP)
Starred in the documentary short “What Remains,” which debuted at the Southern Foodways Alliance spring symposium, has been making the rounds on the festival circuit and was recently added to The New Yorker Documentary film series
Built our
fourth recycled oyster shell reef, which spans 300 linear feet and is comprised of 150 tons of bagged shell, with the help of 400 volunteers
Bagged 11 tons of shell
Returned 555 cubic yards of shell to the water as reef restaurants
Partnered with two organizations for oyster shell drop sites
580 volunteers with 1,076 of service hours through various events
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Collected shell from 14 Engaged
Educated 750 community members
Promoted 19 community sustainability activities
POLICY
Hosted a forum of New Orleans City Council candidates with our partners from the Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans and Urban Conservancy to highlight the important of water and coastal issues in the race
Partnered with Kristi Trail of
Pontchartrain Conservancy to publish an oped on the urgency of coastal restoration Supported a resolution asking the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to conduct a study on the final destination of oyster shells removed from Louisiana waters
Encouraged supporters to and submitted comments on the Draft
Environmental Impact Statement for the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, one of our priority projects and an essential element to the rebuilding of our coast
Submitted
comments a number of times this year to help advance the River Reintroduction to Maurepas Swamp project
Advocated to advance the RISEE Act, which would bring
A-Bration; and we hope to get closer to breaking
more money to the state from offshore energy production revenues
ground on some large-scale restoration projects. Our small but mighty team is ready to face new challenges,
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and we hope you are too. We are grateful to you for
Hosted the State of the Coast conference virtually, engaging over 1,100 coastal
joining us, and we look forward to seeing what we can
scientists, landowners, students and concerned residents
do together this year.
of shucking and serving oysters at home, enjoyed music from Sweet Crude and shared
SPECIAL EVENTS Learned about the joys
a libation with 130 supporters during our virtual Shell-A-Bration, in partnership with Oysters XO
Recognized the heroes who have helped protect and restore Louisiana’s
coast with our 25th annual Coastal Stewardship Awards
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OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT
Engaged dozens of high school-aged student leaders to step up to the challenge of preserving our coast through our first cohort of the Future Coastal Leaders Program
Activated dozens of college students to serve representatives of CRCL at
various campuses across Louisiana through our Student Ambassador program
Hosted
the Restoration on the Half Shell program virtually, engaging over 150 participants