CRCL's Oyster Shell Recycling Program Quarterly Report, Quarter 1, 2022

May-September 2021

Meet the Team!

Kellyn LaCour-Conant

Darrah Bach

Restoration Programs Director kellyn.lacour-conant@crcl.org

OSRP Coordinator darrah.bach@crcl.org

Contact Kellyn with any invoicing, development or programmatic inquiries.

Hendrik Vanderwall Recycling Contractor 504-472-2080

Contact Hendrik, our recycling contractor, for any last-minute changes to your typical pickup schedule.

Contact Darrah for pickup, bin delivery and special event logistics.

Hannah Cohen

Community Engagement Specialist hannah.cohen@crcl.org Contact Hannah to schedule a volunteer event for your staff.

Sofia Giordano

Oyster Shell Recycling Technician sofia.giordano@crcl.org Contact Sofia for Quarterly Report questions and to schedule shift meetings.

All other general inquiries or restaurant referrals can be sent to oysters@crcl.org. Our team continuously monitors this account and will connect with you!

Rosina Philippe, Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha Tribal Elder and Historian, leads volunteers in loading oyster boats during the Plaquemines Reef deployment in July.

Plaquemines Community Reef Deployment- July 2021

Throughout the month of July, our team and more than 120 volunteers spent their weekends in Plaquemines Parish deploying our Plaquemines Parish Community Reef. This reef site will be protecting the Lemon Tree Mound -- a sacred site stewarded by the Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha of Grand Bayou Indian Village. This mound has been part of this Indigenous community for generations, and we hope our oyster reef will keep it protected from erosion for future generations. Big thanks to our volunteers who were happy to get down and dirty, the members of Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha of Grand Bayou Indian Village who oversaw the project and provided boat captains, our sponsors for making this project possible, and of course our partner restaurants for providing the shells!

From left to right, Kellyn, Sofia and Darrah collecting data on oysters from the reef.

Kellyn, rear, and Sofia after adding additional oyster bags to the reef.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Pointe-au-Chien Reef!

On July 27, our team headed to Pointe-au-Chien to conduct annual monitoring of our first volunteer-constructed reef. We noticed lots of oyster recruitment on the shell and other critters living happily on the reef.

Shell Collection Since May of 2021, we have collected over 161,000 pounds of oyster shells! Note that recycling was paused for most of September due to Hurricane Ida. We are hoping to get back to pre-COVID levels soon, and we are continuously adding new restaurants and more bins to existing restaurant partners!

Front row, from left, Kellyn LaCour-Conant and Gardner Goodall, our Native Plant Program Coordinator. Back row, from left, David Schmit, boat captain Richie Blink and Troy Gilbert.

Chef's Brigade Update Through our partnership with Chef's Brigade, we have been able to add more restaurants to our program with even more to come! On September 24, Troy Gilbert and David Schmit of Chef's Brigade had the opportunity to visit our newest reef in Plaquemines Parish.

Pointe-au-Chien Community Reef

Reef site post-Ida.

Darrah, left, and Kimberly Ortiz, our Monitoring & Remote Sensing Technician.

Plaquemine's Parish Community Reef

Reef site post-Ida.

Kellyn walking down the reef.

Post-Ida Reef Visits After the devastation caused by Hurricane Ida, our team conducted reef visits to see how our projects, the surrounding area and our community partners withstood the storm. We visited our 2-year-old Pointe-au-Chien Community Reef and our newly constructed Plaquemines Parish Community Reef. Both maintained their structure, and a Pointe-au-Chien Tribe member told us he believes their large oak tree would not be standing if not for the reef.

Pre-Shift Meetings Restarting!

We will soon be resuming pre-shift meetings with our restaurant partners. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, our team regularly visited OSRP restaurants to educate staff on our program and procedures, as well as to receive any feedback to improve our partnership. If you are interested, please email sofia.giordano@crcl.org to schedule your pre-shift meeting.

Volunteers working hard and having fun during an oyster bagging event.

Oyster Bagging Events We are resuming our infamous oyster bagging events! We will be hosting several volunteer events in the coming months that restaurant partners are welcome to attend, or feel free to email hannah.cohen@crcl.org to set up a private bagging day for your staff. Oyster bagging events will take place at our new shell collection site in Violet, LA.

Need more bins or to adjust your pickup schedule? If so, shoot an email to darrah.bach@crcl.org

If your restaurant has a change in staff and pickup/ invoicing contact needs to be changed, please keep us updated at oysters@crcl.org

Thank you for helping us restore the coast!

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Support for the Oyster Shell Recycling Program provided by: