June 22, 2021 Lockport, La
Photo by Henry Cancienne
The Lafourche Parish Government's A Look At Lafourche Facebook page recently invited the Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) to participate in a video on Thursday that they wanted to produce about LICI's iris restoration project at the town of Lockport, La.'s Elevated Boardwalk . The parish's A Look At Lafourche Facebook page is used to highlight activities taking place within Lafourche Parish.
After two cancelled dates due to inclement weather, the video was shot on Thursday, June 17th as LICI was there with volunteers planting Louisiana irises. The irises had been rescued that morning from a site along Hwy 90 in the nearby town of Des Allemands.
The video includes an interview with Lafourche Parish Councilman, Armand Autin, who has been a big supporter of LICI's iris restoration project at the boardwalk and was instrumental in getting the project approved last year.
Charlotte Clarke, Executive Director of Common Ground Relief, Inc., was also interviewed and appears in the video. Common Ground Relief has partnered with LICI on many projects and supplied two volunteers that morning for the iris rescue and planting.
Although LICI's iris planting on the day that the video was filmed included only a small number of volunteers, the irises that LICI planted earlier this year at the boardwalk included many other volunteers from the local area.
"We planted these irises as part of our mission to raise awareness with the public of this wonderful native Louisiana plant. However, its nice to know that because our work brings people out to the boardwalks it is helping others, like the parish tourism staff, achieve their mission, too." said Gary Salathe, volunteer and board of directors member of LICI, who also appeared in the video.
The A Look At Lafourche Facebook page video can be found here: