America’s WETLAND awarded $157,000 AmeriCorps grant

America’s WETLAND Conservation Corps has received $157,000 from the federal volunteer service organization AmeriCorps to help fund coastal restoration projects.

The America’s WETLAND Foundation is a nonprofit New Orleans-based conservation group started in 2003 to help preserve coastal Louisiana.

The Conservation Corps branch of the organization has two of its 28 members stationed in the Tri-parishes. The two are expected to serve at least 1,800 hours over the next year carrying out coastal preservation projects, said Melissa Landry with America’s WETLAND Foundation.

Conservation Corps members are part of the AmeriCorps program. The Conservation Corps completed more than 164 restoration projects in Louisiana between 2007 and 2009 and recruited more than 5,000 volunteers, according to a release.

The group also prepares teaching kits for schools across southeast Louisiana.

America’s WETLAND stages the annual “Storm Warning: Last Stand for America’s WETLAND” events in locations around the state to publicize coastal restoration. For the event this year, held in May, flotillas of boats journeyed simultaneously along the Intracoastal Waterway from Larose and Morgan City toward Houma, where festivities were held at the Downtown Marina.

“At this year’s Storm Warning event, they (the corps) came and had a huge booth, educating folks about how wetlands actually work,” Landry said.

Examples of activities performed by the group include wetlands vegetative plantings, beach trash cleanups, setting up wood duck boxes, and educational and outreach activities.

Landry said many Conservation Corps members stationed outside of the area travel regularly to the Tri-parishes to work on coastal restoration.

“For example, last month all 28 members traveled to the Houma area and helped plant more than 4,000 plugs of California bulrush-a plant commonly found in marshes, swamps and wetlands that helps improve water quality,” she said.

“AWCC projects stretch along the coast of Louisiana from Lafitte to New Orleans to Port Fourchon to Holly Beach,” said Dwight Landreneau, associate vice chancellor of the LSU AgCenter, in the release. The AgCenter is a sponsor of the Conservation Corps.

“By rebuilding damaged and degraded wetlands along the coast, we are helping to rebuild the state’s primary and natural line of defense against hurricanes and storm surges,” he said.

The Louisiana Serve Commission, which coordinates national service programs operating in the state, administers an AmeriCorps grant that helps fund the Conservation Corps. Under President Bill Clinton’s administration, AmeriCorps succeeded Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).