Guest Blogger

Padre Island is the largest barrier island off the coast of Texas and the world’s longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island. It is also one of America’s beautifully preserved nature sanctuaries. Several thousand years old, Padre Island is relatively young. It plays the crucial role of keeping coastal storms away from the other 300 islands […]

It can be easy to overlook the amount of natural beauty the Gulf contains. While BP’s damage lingers in many coastal areas of the Gulf, there are still gorgeous areas to promote. One recent effort in Alabama is to establish the Tensaw Parkway Scenic Byway, which will take road trip sightseeing to a whole new

This past the 2012 Farm Bill was “marked up” by the House and passed out of Committee. The result is what our friends at the Environmental Working Group call “the worst piece of farm and food legislation in decades”: Many of the edits and amendments we hoped for did not make the cut. Nitrogen being

The 2012 Farm Bill is approaching Judgment Day in the House: Today, a draft is being discussed and “marked up.” It has already gone through a number of revisions, but state governments and agricultural groups are clammering for last-minute revisions.Farming in the Prairie Pothole region-Courtesy of USDA-NRCSWhile the Senate had some excellent items included, we

If any news is good news, it’s that the Senate has passed a decent version of the Farm Bill. It is currently on its way to the House of Representatives, and GRN, the Mississippi River Collaborative and our partners throughout the Gulf and Mississippi River watershed, have our fingers crossed: A good Farm Bill can

As many of our readers know, there is currently an effort afoot to open Mississippi’s waters to oil and gas exploration, production and drilling. On June 28th, Gulf Restoration Network worked with our partners at the 12 Miles South Coalition to hold a forum in Gulfport, MS, featuring a four-expert panel on the subject.For over

Shortly before Hurricane Katrina’s winds and waters inundated Mississippi’s coast, the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) had pushed to open Mississippi waters to natural gas drilling and production. Though the prospect was rebuffed by widespread public opposition from Mississippi residents and citizen groups like the 12 Miles South Coalition, this threat to the health of Mississippi’s

What will happen once we FINALLY start seeing funding for ecosystem restoration in the Gulf region? Since the oil disaster began, the environmental community has been rightfully focused on funding to address oil impacts as well as broader ecosystem restoration. And we’ve spent time and brainpower thinking about what types of projects will best address

Over the past two years GRN has been incredibly fortunate to work with a number of talented and passionate individuals who have brought their expertise to collaborative efforts for a healthier Gulf.Photojournalist Julie Dermansky is a stellar example of that network. This guest post and photo slide show is a small sampling of her work.It’s

Spring is the perfect time for flotant marsh restoration. As part of restoring former oil and gas canals, Barataria Preserve is helping pioneer a flotant marsh restoration technique. Flotant marsh plants like maidencane (Panicum hemitomon) are not directly planted, so a new project unveiled in Barataria Preserve in Jean Lafitte Park hopes to recreate mats