LICI Helps To Get Irises And Seeds For LSUE Study

Madisonville, La. October 7, 2022

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative partnered with the Louisiana Iris Species Preservation Project of the Society for Louisiana Irises (SLI) to collect Louisiana iris seeds and plants for a donation to Professor Domingo Jariel, Department of Biology, in the Agriculture department at Louisiana State University in Eunice, La. The professor was shipped 200 I. giganticaerulea seeds and 20 I. giganticaerulea plants two weeks ago and 20 I. brevicaulis plants yesterday.

LSU Eunice is the only comprehensive two-year institution within the LSU system. The town is in parts of three parishes, St. Landry, Acadia and Evangeline in West-central Louisiana.

Professor Jariel contacted LICI a few months ago and asked for their help in finding seeds and plants of native Louisiana iris species. He has been doing studies and experiments with his students on trying to increase the number iris seeds that successfully germinate. The information could become very helpful for a future effort to propagate species irises for marsh and swamp restoration projects.

The I. giganticaerulea plants and seeds that were donated to Professor Jariel came

from this clump of irises that are seen blooming in April 2022.

LICI connected Professor Jariel with members of the Louisiana Iris Species Preservation Project of the Society For Louisiana Irises (SLI). A decision was made that LICI would partner with SLI to help the professor. LICI's volunteers would go out and collect the I. giganticaerulea seeds and plants and the members of SLI would collect and donate the I. brevicaulis plants and seeds. In exchange, Professor Jariel will share with SLI the future results of the experiments and what his students have learned.

Seed pods and seeds of the I. giganticaerulea species of the

Louisiana iris are shown in the photo.

"This whole arrangement will work out really well because we at LICI are not interested in germinating iris seeds ourselves since we only do planting projects using irises we have rescued from destruction out in the wild. But we do love getting in the outdoors to collect seeds and iris plants!" president of LICI Gary Salathe said.

Salathe added that LICI also sees a real value in these studies being done on the I. giganticaerulea seeds by LSUE because his group is advocating for USDA-approved nurseries to do mass propagation of Louisiana irises for the huge marsh and swamp restorations that will be taking place when the Mississippi River diversions finish construction and begin to operate. "There are a few key things that need to happen first, one of which is being able to teach these nurseries when the time comes on how to propagate irises from seeds," Salathe says.

Many of the SLI members that are involved in the donation are iris hybridizers. Their hobby requires that they know a thing or two about iris seed germinating, so they will be offering Professor Jariel ideas and advice, as he requests it, on what they know in exchange for him sharing the results of his students' work.

The I. brevicaulis species of the Louisiana iris in bloom. The range of this

iris includes the areas around west Louisiana.

The twenty I. brevicaulis plants ended up being donated by the Greater New Orleans Iris Society from their collection of species irises at their nursery because the site where the irises and seeds were to be collected from was destroyed by Hurricane Ida. Unfortunately, this was not discovered in time to allow for seeds to be collected from other sites.

The I. giganticaerulea iris plants and seeds collected for the donation came from a large stand of irises growing along a remote lake shoreline within the undeveloped natural areas of a huge subdivision near Madisonville, La. They are irises that were rescued five years ago and planted there. They have now become part of the LICI project to have sites growing and increasing their rescued irises all on their own in the event there are no sites available with irises to rescue when a need comes up for irises to plant in the future.

An I. giganticaerulea iris flower is shown with its number one pollinator, the bumblebee.

An article about the SLI's project by Charles Perilloux, who is one of the members of the SLI Species Preservation Project, can be found here: https://www.louisianas.org/.../Preservation_of_five...

LICI Organizes Louisiana Iris Planting in New Iberia, La.

October 2, 2022 New Iberia, La.

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) completed a Louisiana iris planting along the shoreline of Bayou Teche in New Iberia, La.'s City Park on Saturday, October 1, 2022. The planting was a result of a partnership between the LICI and the T.E.C.H.E Project to plant native wetlands plants along Bayou Teche. The purpose of the project is to show landowners along the bayou that native plants can be used to stabilize the shoreline instead of concrete riprap. The project will also beautify this section of City Park and Bayou Teche.

This was the second planting completed by the two groups working together in City Park. The first planting of 130 irises was done last year as a test to see if the irises would do well. They did, so this year the number of irises planted was increased to 450 plants.

The I. giganticaerulea iris, a native species of Louisiana iris, which grows in the swamps and marshes south of New Iberia, was the iris planted in the project. The irises came from LICI's iris rescue program, which involves the group's volunteers removing wild native irises from threatened habitats and relocating them to protected sites.

Many of the irises that were planted at New Iberia's City Park on Saturday came from this iris "rescue" event held by LICI in March. The volunteers removed I. giganticaerulea irises from a site near New Orleans that is zoned for commercial development and is for sale.

New Iberia's mayor, Freddie DeCourt, has been very supportive of the project in New Iberia's City Park. The planting was only possible because he had the concrete riprap removed from the shoreline. The mayor also came out on Saturday to help plant the irises.

Volunteers are shown planting irises along the bank of Bayou Teche in

New Iberia's City Park on Saturday, October 1, 2022.

The T.E.C.H.E. Project is a non-profit, volunteer organization whose members are passionate about making Bayou Teche a healthier waterway through action and education. A video explaining their Reviving Resilient Landscapes - Bankline Restoration Program can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/TecheProject/posts/2922544281148312

LICI Is Gearing Up For This Year's Iris Projects

July 15, 2022, New Orleans, La.

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) rescued and planted 6,000 wild Iris giganticaerulea (a species of Louisiana iris) in refuges and nature preserves in 2021. The group is targeting 6,000 irises again for rescues and plantings for 2022.

The first step in accomplishing this goal is to locate irises that are threatened with destruction and dig them up and "rescue" them. That process has already begun with LICI completing three iris "rescues" so far this year that has brought in about 4,000 I. giganticaerulea irises to their iris holding area.

Photo: LICI volunteers are shown setting up the LICI iris holding area in July 2020.

Since the iris rescues typically are done during the summer, while the irises are either about to go into or are in their dormancy period, the irises are planted into waterproof containers at the LICI iris holding area to allow them to strengthen up by growing out new roots and leaves. The irises are usually ready by late September for planting into their iris restoration projects. The group's goal is to have all of the containers empty with the irises planted by January 2023.

Photo: Some of the irises from early spring are almost ready to move out into

LICI projects, as shown in this photo taken on August 5th.

From summer 2020 until January of this year LICI had to rely on local volunteers for their iris rescues and planting projects. In Pre-COVID 19 days there was a flow of out-of-state college students coming in to help, often hosted by local not-for-profit organizations and motivated by various incentives, including earning public service hour credits. "During the last two years it has required many more volunteer events of 6 to 8 people to accomplish what 15 to 20 college students could achieve in just one outing", says LICI's Gary Salathe.

Photo: A 2021 iris rescue in using local volunteers.

LICI is now back to pre-pandemic times, mainly using out-of-state university students as volunteers. The group helps local sponsor organizations by supplying them with work the volunteers can do for at least one day while they are in town. The college-age volunteers do the heavy work at the rescue events. "Our local volunteers either get down and dirty and work alongside these students if they are physically able or help in other ways to organize and support the events," Salathe says. He said that local LICI volunteers also take charge of certain aspects of a project site over the long term. Others keep them in contact with various landowners, local governments, and other non-profits. Some assist with social media and public relations.

Photo: A 2022 iris rescue in using out-of-state college student volunteers

from Iowa State University.

Photo: The same Iowa State University volunteers at the LICI iris holding

area planting the irises they rescued

the day before.

The local non-profit, Common Ground Relief, was hosting the Iowa State University volunteers for a week of service activities in Southeast Louisiana doing marsh restoration projects. They spent two days working with LICI.

In June volunteers from the Students Shoulder to Shoulder organization worked with LICI to complete their second and third iris rescue of the season. The volunteers were high school students from around the country. They were in south Louisiana for a week of volunteering in coastal restoration projects through events held by their local host, Common Ground Relief.

Photo: Both of the June 2022 iris rescue events were held

while the area was experiencing a heat

wave with temperatures in the mid-90s.

Photo: Josh Benitez, (left) co-director of Common Ground Relief, is seen

digging irises with two volunteers from the Students Shoulder to Shoulder

organization during one of the June iris rescue events.

Because of the very wet weather Southeast Louisiana has been experiencing, LICI will likely not be able to get out to do any more iris rescues until the middle of September. "One more event should get all of the containers full at the LICI iris holding area", Salathe says.

Salathe said LICI is going to be doing some maintenance at the iris holding area over the next month and will also be coming up with a plan for where the irises will be planted this fall and winter. "We will also be working over the next few weeks on getting donations to fill out our budget for the year. We welcome any size donation to help with the overhead expenses that we incur with maintaining our iris holding area and putting on volunteer events," Salathe added.

New sites have contacted LICI about having irises planted there and they'd like to plant more irises at many of their ongoing projects. "We're hopeful the weather will cooperate during November to allow us to get some iris rescue projects done where we can dig one day and plant the irises in projects the next day, " he said.

LICI is an all-volunteer-run Louisiana registered non-profit "that aims to have a big impact at a small cost," Salathe says. "We have a PayPal account that will allow anyone to make a donation to us even if they do not have a PayPal account. A credit card will work. Any help that you can give will be greatly appreciated, " he said. If you would like to make a donation you can do so by clicking here: Donation

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative website can be found here: https://www.licisaveirises.com/

LICI's Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/licisaveirises

Their email address is: licisaveirises@gmail.com