SAVE OUR CYPRESS CAMPAIGN TAKES OFF

Yesterday, the Gulf Restoration Network and the Save Our Cypress Coalition publicly announced a campaign demanding Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s stop selling cypress mulch. Read all about it! All this right on the heels of Wednesday's New Orleans Times-Picayune article about how much more cypress is being logged in Louisiana than previously reported.

As the nation looks to invest billions in restoring Louisiana’s coastal protection, our best natural defenses, endangered cypress-tupelo swamps are being clear-cut to feed an unsustainable and unnecessary cypress mulch industry that is ballooning throughout the country.

Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s have the power to drastically reduce destruction of Louisiana’s coastal protection by ending the sale of cypress mulch in their retail outlets. All three companies have touted their policies of sustainability, but they have not taken proper steps to ensure the safety of America’s wetlands in Louisiana. When confronted with evidence that cypress mulch they sell is being sourced from sensitive areas in coastal Louisiana, they have responded by placing their orders for next spring’s mulch shipment.

The federal government, the Army Corps of Engineers, and caring citizens across the country have already invested plenty of money in the rehabilitation of the Gulf Coast after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and lots more is coming. Unfortunately, state agencies and logging interests are embracing policies that will allow the destruction of swamps in some of the very areas slated for restoration, and that will leave coastal communities exposed.

Cypress swamps are an incredibly important barrier to hurricanes and storm surge. As Dr. Gary Shafer explained at yesterday’s press conference, eighteen hundred people died in Hurricane Katrina and only seven died from Hurricane Rita. One reason is because Rita had 34 miles of marsh and swamp to traverse before reaching civilization. Unfortunately, most of that marsh was utterly destroyed and will not provide protection in the future. Cypress forests, however, stood strong and will be protection from the next hurricane, and the next, and the next . . .

In the face of the country’s worst natural disaster ever, it is inconceivable that retailers and logging interests are willing to grind away our natural protection.

On top of the people that are relying on Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s to help save vital storm protection, an enormous amount of wildlife depends on these ecosystems. CypressLouisiana swamps provide important habitat for threatened and endangered species like the black bear, and 60% of the continent’s migratory bird species pass through here.

Tell Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s to stop selling cypress mulch!

Dan Favre is the GRN's Campaign Organizer.