Rusty Gaude, at right, LSU AgCenter fisheries agent in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, explains a freshwater diversion project and hurricane protection wall in St. Bernard Parish to Ohio State fans on a tour of the New Orleans area on Jan. 4 while they were in town for the Sugar Bowl. (Photo by Bobby Fletcher. Click on photo for downloadable image)

About 90 Sugar Bowl fans spent the morning of Jan.4 in areas that were 6 to 10 feet under water after Hurricane Katrina. The fans were on a tour conducted by the LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant.

“During the half-day tour the participants learned about the importance of Louisiana’s wetlands and the effects of recent storms and the oil spill on wetlands, fisheries and livelihoods,” said Pat Skinner, LSU AgCenter disaster specialist. “They also heard about the LSU AgCenter and Sea Grant Extension’s involvement in restoring, protecting and preserving these valuable resources.”

Rusty Gaude, LSU AgCenter fisheries agent in St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, and Caitlin Reilly, oil-spill recovery agent in Jefferson Parish, put together the tour that included stops at the Caernarvon Diversion in St. Bernard Parish, the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge in New Orleans East and the Wetlands Plants Center in New Orleans City Park.

“While en route, the group was able to see and hear about housing reconstruction in the Lower Ninth Ward, the Corps of Engineers project on the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet to block storm surge and the checkerboard recovery in the lowest areas of New Orleans between City Park and the Industrial Canal,” Skinner said.

Gaude, who has been heavily involved in restoring the fishing industry following the 2005 and 2008 hurricane seasons, explained that the oil spill hit south Louisiana just as the fishing industry was on the verge of recovery, referring to the industry as “trauma-based fishery.”

Gaude described the efforts by the LSU AgCenter, Louisiana Sea Grant and their counterparts in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida and Texas both to ensure the quality and safety of Gulf seafood and to restore public confidence in seafood harvested from the Gulf since the spill.

Reilly came to south Louisiana in 2006 as a Katrina volunteer and joined the LSU AgCenter after the oil spill to help with response and recovery from the effects on wetlands, fisheries and the economy.

She described to the group Louisiana’s extensive oil and transportation infrastructure and the importance of this infrastructure to the rest of the country. She also explained how this infrastructure is at increased risk of failure as Louisiana’s wetlands continue to degrade and disappear.

“The Ohio visitors were particularly pleased to hear from their alum, Amanda Hardesty, and the continued involvement of OSU volunteers in the long recovery from Katrina and subsequent events,” Skinner said. Hardesty is a manager with Global Risk Solutions in St. Bernard Parish.

After helping the LSU AgCenter manage Katrina volunteers, Hardesty continued working in St. Bernard Parish. She is now involved with that parish’s “Lot next door” program, which makes properties purchased by the state after Katrina and Rita available to owners of adjacent properties.

Brian Fortier, who is with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, spoke at Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge about the importance of the refuge as duck habitat at the southern tip of the Mississippi Flyway and the challenges of maintaining a freshwater marsh separated from salt water by a hurricane protection levee. He also talked about the refuge’s many educational programs and the launch next year of a youth duck-hunting program.

Emily Snyder, an AmeriCorp volunteer, explained the partnership between the LSU AgCenter and City Park in creating and maintaining the Wetlands Plant Center, where marsh grasses are planted by volunteers and then transferred individually, by hand, to coastal areas.

Bobby Fletcher, LSU AgCenter regional director, explained that research was progressing at the Coastal Area Research Station in Plaquemines Parish to develop marsh grasses that could be replanted using less labor-intensive methods.

“This research station had been the Citrus Research Station prior to Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of the citrus industry in south Louisiana,” Fletcher said.

Pat Whittington, director of honors, career services and student financial aid in The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, assembled the group from Ohio on behalf of the dean of the college, Bobby Moser.

Johnny Morgan