Operation Southern Comfort

Since 2006, thousands of high school and college students and adult leaders have participated in Operation Southern Comfort (OSC) sojourns to Louisiana to help restore St. Bernard Parish and have also provided a greatly needed service to the local environment. Since 1994, the St. Bernard Wetlands Foundation (SBWF) has maintained a tree nursery to supply container-grown trees to restore wetlands damaged by coastal flooding and salt water intrusion. Thousands of acres of formerly forested wetlands were depleted of protective trees that slow storm surges and provide valuable habitat for wildlife and recreational activities.

 

Since 2008, OSC volunteers have been instrumental in helping to restore the hurricane-destroyed nursery and to replenish the baldcypress and live oak trees needed for wetland habitat and protection. Each year 2,000 to 3,000 small seedlings have been potted and placed in the SBWF nursery. In 2009-2010, OSC volunteers were instrumental in outplanting the larger, potted trees into a semi-protected depleted wetland to restore this area to its former swamp environment.

The tree planting portion of the OSC activities has provided the students (and adults) with an opportunity to learn how the environment can be enhanced to offer suitable habitat for wildlife, filtration of water drainage and serve as a buffer to storm surges responsible for the vast majority of loss of life and dwellings in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

With the assistance and direction of local tree experts, the OSC volunteers have cultured nearly 6,000 ecologically valuable baldcypress and live oak seedlings. Recent evaluations onsite have found a high rate of tree survival, with nursery stock in excellent growth and health.

Working with St. Bernard tree experts has provided both a learning experience in environmental issues affecting the citizenry of St. Bernard Parish in addition to a great feeling of satisfaction in seeing the fruits of their labor take the shape of a forest capable of surviving future storms and other coastal disasters.

Of major concern to the residents of the Gulf Coast and the Nation is the real and potential impact of the oil spill on the ocean life and sensitive marshlands.  Without some major calamity it appears the spill will affect fishing grounds and immediate coastal marshes for a long time. The impact is severe to the fishing and recreation industry and, of course, to the entire food chain in the Gulf. Beaches can be cleaned, but marshes cannot.  There is no present solution to that consequence.

Careful site selection in protected areas has ensured, also, that the present oil spill disaster will have little or no effect on our outplanted tree survival. Future plantings will also avoid high-risk areas that may be prone to salt and/or oil intrusion. The immediate impacted areas, at present, are far removed from areas where OSC and the SBWF have conducted tree plantings.  Thus, we see no reason to change what is working. With the teamwork of OSC and the SBWF, we will make a significant difference in the habitat of animals and the lives of local people.