Louisiana Species Preservation Project Donates Abbeville Red Irises to LICI's Project

July 13, 2024 New Orleans, LA

The Greater New Orleans Iris Society (GNOIS), as stewards of the Louisiana Iris Species Preservation Project, has donated multiple pots of I. nelsonii species of the Louisiana iris to Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative's (LICI) iris restoration project at Palmetto Island State Park in Vermilion parish. (The common name for the I. nelsonii iris is the Abbeville Red iris.) The donation occurred on July 13, 2024, at a GNOIS/LICI Abbeville Red iris seed potting event at the GNOIS iris nursery in New Orleans's City Park.

The Greater New Orleans Iris Society's Abbeville Red iris donation occurred during a seed potting event hosted by the GNOIS at their iris nursery in New Orleans.

The donated irises will be planted into Palmetto Island State Park's boardwalk swamp this winter so that they will bloom next spring.

As Stewards for the  Louisiana Iris Species Preservation Project the GNOIS has a huge collection of the I. nelsonii iris.

The Louisiana Iris Species Preservation Project was organized in 2015 by members of the Society for Louisiana Irises (SLI), who were concerned about how many of the Louisiana iris species and their variant colors were disappearing from the wild, mainly due to the development of their habitats. Although it is not officially an SLI project, all of the participants are members of the organization.

The idea behind the project was to get volunteer "stewards" to raise and increase the number of Louisiana irises collected from endangered habitats over the years. In this way, the irises would be preserved and increased until suitable new habitats in protected refuges or preserves in the same areas could be located for replanting.

The project involves growing and increasing threatened irises or rare color variants of all five species of the Louisiana iris by "stewards" across the United States. The most prominent "steward" and one with the entire collection of irises is the GNOIS. They grow the protected irises in their Louisiana iris nursery in a remote section of New Orleans's City Park.

Patrick O'Connor is seen giving a presentation on the Abbeville Red iris during LICI's iris bloom event in April at Palmetto Island State Park.

Patrick O'Connor is the current president of the GNOIS. He is a renowned Louisiana iris expert, hybridizer, and a leader in the Louisiana Iris Species Preservation Project. In April and May O’Connor gave numerous presentations about the Abbeville Red iris and its threatened habitat at events held in Palmetto Island State Park in Vermilion Parish. The iris' only native habitat is found in the parish, not far from the park.

The Abbeville Red iris display at the Palmetto Island State Park is shown, while the irises

were blooming in April of 2023.

The park's boardwalk swamp is home to an Abbeville Red iris display, which was created in 2011 by the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and the Department of State Parks with the help of the Friends of Palmetto Island State Park, Inc.  The idea was that this public display would showcase this rare iris in its natural habitat since the swamp where the irises originated is privately owned and gated.

One educational display on the boardwalk at the Abbeville Red iris planting in Palmetto Island State Park is shown. Increasing the public's knowledge of this very rare species of Louisiana iris is an important goal of the iris display.

LICI has been managing the iris restoration project at the park's boardwalk swamp since the spring of 2023 with the help of volunteers from various local groups and the public. The Friends of Palmetto Island State Park, Inc. has partnered with LICI in the project by supplying volunteers and funding in 2023 to get the project up and running.

After seeing the progress of the iris restoration project at the park and how the community has become engaged with it, O’Connor thought that the GNOIS donating some of the more numerous Abbeville Red irises that the group has in the Species Preservation Project would be a good way for them to get involved. "We whole hardheartedly accepted the idea of a donation and this help from the GNOIS, and by extension, the other SLI members of the Species Preservation Project," Salathe says.

(Right to left) Patrick O'Connor, president of the Greater New Orleans Iris Society, and Eileen Hollander, past president of the group, are seen standing behind the pots of irises that the GNOIS. as stewards of the Louisiana Iris Species Preservation Project, donated to the Palmetto Island State Park's iris restoration project on Saturday, July 13, 2024. LICI will

maintain the irises until they are planted into the park boardwalk swamp's

Abbeville Red iris display this fall.

The Abbeville Red irises that were donated for the park’s restoration project on Saturday are offspring from only a few irises that were collected years ago from the Abbeville Swamp when it became apparent that the swamp was being degraded. O’Connor believes the time is right to increase the number of irises with this GNOIS donation, now that there is a project underway to restore the park's Abbeville Red iris planting that includes a plan to eventually move the irises back into the Abbeville Swamp as its restoration takes place.

The donated irises will be grown over the next few months at the LICI iris nursery in New Orleans before planting them in Palmetto Island State Park this winter.

"We appreciate the help and support of the GNOIS and its hard-working volunteers who have maintained and increased these irises over the years. Their work makes donating Abbeville Red irises to the Palmetto Island State Park iris restoration possible. The irises will be put to good use and eventually return to their home within the Abbeville Swamp. Thank you!" Salathe summed up.

LICI Hits Record of 6,000 Following its Facebook Page

June 29, 2024, New Orleans, La.

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) recently achieved a benchmark by having 6,000 followers of its Facebook page.

In addition, LICI reports that over the last six months, many of their postings to the Facebook page have each been shown on over 15,000 Facebook users' news feeds, some with over 50,000 placements onto news feeds.

Photo: These are the LICI Facebook postings over the last 28 days with the highest "Post reach". "Post reach" is defined as the number of Facebook news feeds a postings is put onto; in other words, it shows how many people had an opportunity to see the postings and then hopefully click on them and read them.

Gary Salathe, founder and president of LICI, says, "We are reaching a very large audience that has some interest in preserving our wild, native Louisiana irises and their threatened habitats, which is precisely our goal."

"Although we rescue and relocate thousands of irises each year, which is a worthy and satisfying accomplishment, our main reason for doing this is to get people out to the swamp boardwalks and nature trails to see them bloom each year. They will then be exposed and learn about the habitats the irises grow in and why it is so critical that we not only preserve these habitats but support the groups and their projects trying to restore them."

"We want to thank everyone who follows our Facebook page and likes and shares our postings. By doing so, you are helping to spread the word about this wonderful species of native Louisiana plant and the habitats in which they live."

LICI's Facebook page can be found HERE.

LICI's 2024 Louisiana Iris Viewing Locations Map Achieves Record Number of Views

June 4, 2024 New Orleans, LA

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) has released its final figures for the number of views of its Google Maps 2024 Louisiana Iris View Locations map. The map was created jointly between LICI and Common Ground Relief. This was the fourth year the map was produced and made available online to the public. The final total number of times people clicked on the interactive map to view it for this season's iris bloom was 46,566. This is a new record for the number of views compared to previous years' maps, according to Gary Salathe, president of LICI.

Photo: The 2024 Louisiana Iris Viewing Locations map and rankings for each location

can be found by clicking here.

Photo: You can find the current count of how many times the map has been viewed at the upper left corner of the map's legend. The count as of the morning

of June 4, 2024, was 46,566.

The map ranks the very best to the almost best for each site found on the map. By clicking on each icon, you will be taken to a page of that location with information and ten photos of the site.

Not all sites are the location of one of LICI's iris restoration projects, but most are.

There may be more locations where native irises can be seen blooming that are more difficult to get to or are on private property. "Our goal is to direct the public to areas where it is safe and easy to see this treasured native Louisiana plant while they are blooming, including the state wildflower, the I. giganticaerulea species of the Louisiana iris," Salathe says. There are two locations on the map where two other species of the Louisiana iris bloomed: the I. nelsonii in Palmetto Island State Park and the I. fulva along the Lockport, LA swamp boardwalk's entrance road.

Salathe said the bloom typically lasts from the middle of March until the middle of April, with the peak bloom in the middle. However, each location can start and finish blooming at different times from the others.

Salathe says that a key part of LICI's mission is to get people out to the boardwalks and nature trails to see the native wild Louisiana irises in bloom. "They will then be exposed to and learn about the habitats the irises grow in and why it is so critical that we not only preserve these habitats but support the groups and their projects trying to restore them. We think this map has been very effective in accomplishing that goal," he said.