Giving the plants a lift: Floating Grasses in Bayou St JohnMonths ago, I assisted Caitlin Reilly of LSU AgCenter with an experimental installation of Vallisneria americana (“wild celery” or “tape-grass” ) in Bayou St John. The plantsand the were gifted to the bayou From Dr. Poirrier’s lab at the University of New Orleans. Because the lakeside section of the Bayou was reclaimed from the Lake, the channel has been constructed, with concrete walls instead of gently sloping banks. The water is too deep, and the water quality not the best, for the establishment of many of our native SAV (submerged aquatic vegetation) species. Kral oyunlar kral oyun Oyunlar oyun – En kral oyunlar1 giydirme oyunları giysi oyunlarI oyunlar1 kral oyun kral oyun kral oyun araba oyunları – giydirme oyunları kral oyun mario oyunları savaş oyunları çocuk oyunları Caitlin had myself and a group of volunteers from the University of New Orleans build floating baskets to hold the native grass close to the surface of the water, so that the plants can reach the sun despite the poor water quality our favorite urban Bayou.Submerged aquatic plants take up excess nutrients and provide habitat for fishes and invertebrates in our estuaries. When the lake bottom is covered in grassy meadows, the SAV also helps dampen the daily tidal energies than can erode our shorelines. Historically, the Lake’s bottom was covered in SAV, but the history of dredging and poor water quality have damaged the Lake, to the point that only a few places around Lake Pontchartrain such as Big Branch Wildlife Refuge and Fountainbleu state park sustain the original, healthy underwater meadows.This is an example of a dirt-cheap, small gardening project that engages the community and works toward restoration of our estuarine system even in urban New Orleans. With any luck, this technique can be adapted toward a larger-scale re-introduction of the native aquatic vegetation.
