{"id":14272,"date":"2018-08-07T11:42:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-07T15:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/?p=14272"},"modified":"2018-08-07T11:42:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-07T15:42:48","slug":"the-coalition-to-restore-coastal-louisiana-receives-environmental-offsets-from-the-ecological-society-of-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/2018\/08\/07\/the-coalition-to-restore-coastal-louisiana-receives-environmental-offsets-from-the-ecological-society-of-america\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana receives environmental offsets from the Ecological Society of America"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW ORLEANS, LA. \u2014 The Ecological Society of America (ESA) will donate over $17,500\u00a0 to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana<\/a> (CRCL) to offset the environmental costs of the Society\u2019s 103rd Annual Meeting<\/a>, held this year in New Orleans, LA. More than 3,500\u00a0attendees convene from across the globe this week to impart, discuss, and share the latest in essential ecological research and discovery.<\/p>\n

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Student volunteers participate in a CRCL fall tree planting. Since 2000, CRCL\u2019s Habitat Restoration Program has planted more than four million native plants throughout the Louisiana coast. Credit: CRCL<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

With so many in attendance, the environmental footprint left behind is not small, nor is it overlooked by ESA members. The energy required to transport, house, and host these environmentally-minded participants exacts a toll on the very ecosystems that conference participants have come together to discuss.<\/p>\n

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CRCL Restorations Programs Director Dr. Deb Abibou and volunteers plant CRCL\u2019s 30,000th tree. The tree marked end of CRCL\u2019s third \u201c10,000 Trees for Louisiana\u201d campaign. Credit: CRCL<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Caz Taylor, a spatial ecologist at Tulane University and the meeting\u2019s Local Host, stated that the wetland loss in the Gulf Coast region is of huge concern. She emphasized that the destruction of wetlands, which constitutes 40-45 percent of coastal wetlands in the lower continental United States, is \u201calready having enormous environmental and economic consequences, and I think it is one of the most serious environmental issues facing the US.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the year 2040, it is estimated that one-third of coastal wetlands will be destroyed by urban development. CRCL uses a multifaceted restoration, outreach, and advocacy approach to achieve its mission of driving bold, science-based action to rebuild coastal Louisiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere in Louisiana we are losing wetlands at an incredible rate\u2014one football field every 100 minutes and New Orleans is inching closer to the Gulf of Mexico every day,\u201d said CRCL Executive Director Kimberly Davis Reyher. \u201cWe are thankful for ESA\u2019s commitment to give back to Louisiana\u2019s coast during their annual meeting. Few groups think about offsetting their environmental impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

CRCL is a boots-on-the-ground restoration organization that has engaged more than 13,000 volunteers through its Habitat Restoration Program. Volunteers have planted more than 3.5 million native trees and plants throughout coastal Louisiana. CRCL also administers the state\u2019s only Oyster Shell Recycling Program which collects oyster shells from participating New Orleans restaurants and uses them to build living shoreline oyster reefs. These reefs encourage oyster settlement, provide fish and wildlife habitat and most importantly act as a breakwall to stabilize the Louisiana coastline. CRCL is also engaging the local fishing industry in its restoration work. Louisiana produces 30 percent of the fish consumed in the US.<\/p>\n

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CRCL Volunteers bagging Oyster Shells in Buras, Louisiana. The bagged shell is used to build living shorelines to rebuild oyster habitat and protect the coast from erosion and store surge. Credit: CRCL\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

As the oldest statewide coastal restoration organization in Louisiana, CRCL also advocates for coastal policy at the local, state and national levels and works to promote Louisiana\u2019s Coastal Master Plan, which is the state\u2019s blueprint for restoring its coast. This 50-year plan calls for the construction of over a hundred projects including hydrologic restoration, marsh creation, and sediment diversions.<\/p>\n

Community and science-based restoration efforts are at the core of the work accomplished by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. These are values mirrored by the Ecological Society of America and its members. This funding will allow the CRCL to further its commitment to coastal restoration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW ORLEANS, LA. \u2014 The Ecological Society of America (ESA) will donate over $17,500\u00a0 to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) to offset the environmental costs of the Society\u2019s 103rd Annual Meeting, held this year in New Orleans, LA. More than 3,500\u00a0attendees convene from across the globe this week to impart, discuss, and share the latest in essential ecological…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":14277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esa.org\/esablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}