Friends of the Refuge, Inc. Welcomes Volunteers on a LICI Project

January 14, 2022 New Orleans

The Friends of Louisiana Wildlife Refuges, Inc. held open a welcome table for volunteers on Wednesday, January 14, 2022 at a LICI organized tree planting event at the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge. Board of Directors members and volunteers of the Friends group, Sue Wilder and John Paul Duet, welcomed the volunteers and thanked them on behalf of the refuge for coming out to plant the tree seedlings.

(From left to right) John Paul Duet; board of directors member of the Friends group, Shelley Stiaes; refuge manager, Sue Wilder; board of directors member of the Friends group and refuge volunteer; Sandi Wicklund came out to welcome the volunteers.

The volunteers planted over 1,000 trees during the two day event that was organized by LICI under a tree planting permit they have with the US Fish & Wildlife Service at the refuge. LICI's partner in the project, Common Ground Relief, supplied most of the volunteers for the day.

Sue Wilder, board of directors member of the Friends, Inc, is shown serving hot chocolate to the volunteers during the cold start of the morning.

The Friends of the Refuge, Inc. focuses on preservation of wildlife habitat and the public stewardship of Southeast Louisiana US Fish & Wildlife refuges.

New Orleans City Council member, Oliver Thomas, is seen on the left. He came out to welcome the volunteers and to give the opening remarks.

The Common Ground Relief volunteers were college students from the University of Wisconsin-Madison that were in town for a week of community service projects.

US Park Service Asks LICI to Participate in a Plant Assesment Study at the Chalmette Battlefield

January 12, 2022 Chalmette, La.

The US Park Service has asked the Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) to participate in a park-wide vegetative assessment study they are doing at the Chalmette Battlefield, which is part of the National Park System. A count and location of the Louisiana irises at the battlefield is needed to complete the assessment. They thought that our help would speed up the study and make if more accurate since LICI's volunteers may be able to spot iris plants among the other vegetation better than others.

LICI volunteer, Kristy Wallisch, has volunteered to be the lead "investigator" for LICI's US Park Service's Chalmette Battlefied iris restoration project. She will be LICI's representative on the park's battlefield-wide vegetative assessment. The purpose of the assessment is to document all of the different types of plants growing within the park. Kristy has agreed to take on the job of counting the irises and documenting their location within the battlefield. She has also written LICI's 2021 annual report of their activities and observations at the park as part of LICI's permit to have a project there.

One small area is shown of the Louisiana irises growing in the middle of the Chalmette Battlefield. The photo was take November 13, 2021, a couple of weeks after the field was bush-hogged. The irises are difficult to tell apart from other other grasses growing in the field when they are not blooming.

LICI volunteers discovered Louisiana irises growing in the center of the battlefield last year where the community of Fazendeville once stood. https://www.licisaveirises.com/post/blooming-irises-the-last-reminder-of-a-village-that-was The irises had been hidden from view for decades because of their location being distant from the roadway that passes through the battlefield. The discovery of the irises is one of the reasons that the US Park Service launched their plant assessment study.

During the bloom season in early April the other grasses in the field begin to grow, making the irises even more difficult to see from the distant roadway. The purple color of the irises also helps to obscured them from a distance.

Since the battlefield is bush-hogged only twice each year, once in the summer and one in late fall, there would be no reason for any of the park staff to be out in the field during the iris bloom in April to discover them.

LICI has proposed moving some of these irises closer to the roadway so that they can be easily seen by the public when they bloom. A decision on this proposal will not be made by the Park Service until the assessment is completed in a couple of months.

"We really appreciate Kristy heading up this important project for us. What she will be doing will help what we now call the "Fazendeville Irises" to one day become a live exhibit of this important part of the battlefield's history." says LICI's Gary Salathe.

Kristy Wallisch hard at work planting a test patch of irises during LICI's first iris planting at the Chalmette Battlefield on February 10, 2021.

St. Bernard Louisiana State Park Gets More Louisiana Irises

January 9, 2022 Braithwaite, LA

LICI has partnered with Common Ground Relief to help restore areas of the forest in St. Bernard State Park, which is located southeast of New Orleans in Braithwaite, LA. Hurricanes Zeta and Ida opened up many areas of the tree canopy when huge hardwood trees were blown over. A decision was made for Common Ground Relief to work on replanting trees and LICI to bring in more Louisiana irises after representatives of LICI, Common Ground Relief and the Meraux Foundation walked the park's nature trail with park manager, Ginger Theriot, last year.

The Louisiana irises to be planted on January 6, 2022 arrive at St. Bernard State Park.

The first volunteer event to put that plan into effect took place on January 6th, 2022 when volunteers from Common Ground Relief planted 12 water hickory, 14 cypress, 14 water tupelo and 40 live oak trees. Both groups also worked together to plant 160 Louisiana irises. The trees were donated by Common Ground Relief from their wetlands nursery. The I. giganticaerulea species of the Louisiana iris were donated by LICI from their iris rescue program.

Park manager, Ginger Theriot, is seen giving the opening remarks at the start of the January 6th planting event.

Gary Salathe, with LICI, said there are some I. giganticaerulea irises naturally growing in the park, but they are not in locations along the nature trail where they can be easily seen by visitors to the park. This is the second time over the last year that LICI has planted irises at St. Bernard State Park.

Some of the irises are shown being brought out to the planting site on the January 6th planting event.

Common Ground Relief organized the January 6th volunteer event at the park. They hosted a group of student volunteers that week from the University of South Dakota that participated in the event. The group stayed at Common Ground Relief's headquarters as they did service activities in the New Orleans area.

Some of the trees to be planted are shown just before they were brought out to the planting site.

The Meraux Foundation partners with Common Ground Relief on many other projects in St. Bernard parish and have helped to financially support the LICI iris holding area.

Volunteers begin work planting Louisiana irises at St. Bernard State Park during the January 6th planting event.