Coastal Roots Helps Local Students Become Environmental Stewards
September 21, 2022
BATON ROUGE, LA - Students from 2nd grade through high school are taking part in this project to learn about and become environmental stewards of their natural resources by establishing native plant nurseries at their schools. Students are growing native tree seedlings and grass plugs that they will plant in a coastal habitat restoration project in south Louisiana.
There are currently 40 schools across 18 Louisiana parishes currently participating in the LSU Coastal Roots Program. There are several schools that will be joining our program in the coming months!
Students are working with a variety of native trees, including the Water Oak, Cherrybark Oak, Nuttall Oak, Tupelo Gum, and Southern Baldcypress - just to name a few. A number of our schools also grow bitter panicum, a beach dune grass, that is planted on Grand Isle and on the beaches of Cameron Parish.
The LSU Coastal Roots Program began in 2000 and is a partnership between the College of Human Sciences & Education, the School of Plant, Environmental, and Soil Sciences, and the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program.
Archbishop Chapelle High School students hosted the LSU Coastal Roots exhibit at the Brown Foundation Service-Learning Celebration on September 13, 2022, at the Lake Pontchartrain Convention Center. These students assisted students attending the celebration in planting 196 southern pecan nuts and will take these newly planted seeds back to their school to grow in their Coastal Roots nursery.
Two new Coastal Roots schools were funded by grants from the Brown Foundation Service-Learning Program: Chateau Estates Elementary and St. Mary's Dominican High School. We are excited to welcome these new schools into the Coastal Roots family.