LICI Holds First Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event Held at Palmetto Island State Park

April 9, 2024 Abbeville, LA

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) held its first annual Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event this past Saturday in Palmetto Island State Park. The Friends of Palmetto State Park Board of Directors approved LICI's iris bloom event being held at the same time as their Sir the Pot event.

Some of the marketing for the day included both events.

The two events were held at the same time on Saturday, April 6, 2024. Since the Stir the Pot event is held annually on the Saturday after Easter, its date changes yearly. It does not always coincide with the Abbeville Red irises blooming in the park's nearby boardwalk swamp. "This year's event was expected to occur while the irises were in full bloom," LICI's president, Gary Salathe, says. He adds that having any iris bloom event is stressful because the exact date of when the irises will be in full bloom is not always predictable, "but this year it worked out perfectly, to our great relief!"

The Abbeville Red irises were in full bloom for LICI's Iris Bloom Event.

Salathe also wanted LICI's event to be on the same day as the Stir The Pot "because we wanted to help our partners in the iris restoration project at the park, the Friends group, have a big turnout for their fundraiser." He estimates that at least 200 "iris lovers" attended the Stir The Pot event and paid the $10 per person entrance fee that likely would not have attended without LICI's iris bloom event. Similarly, he believes that many of the people who came out for the wild game and seafood cook-off were introduced to the Abbeville Red iris for the first time. "It was a win-win deal for both groups," Salathe says.

The Stir the Pot event is a classic South Louisiana festival with a seafood and wild game

cook-off between teams and live music.

While the Stir The Pot event was a typical Louisiana bayou country festival with plenty of food to eat and music to dance to, the LICI iris bloom event was staid by comparison. "Our event was somewhat different,” Salathe said as a gross understatement. “It had an educational focus on the Abbeville Red iris and the swamp it inhabits. The two events being held simultaneously, attracting people of different interests, worked out great!" he added.

Patrick O'Connor is seen giving his presentation on the Abbeville Red iris in the park's meeting room during the LICI iris bloom event. The meeting room is conveniently

located only about 150' from the boardwalk swamp.

Nationally recognized Louisiana iris expert Patrick O'Connor was invited by LICI to give a presentation during the iris bloom event. His talk was on Louisiana irises in general and the Abbeville Red iris in particular. He spoke to a full house.

LICI's president, Gary Salathe (in black cap), is seen on the boardwalk during the iris bloom event, talking to people interested in learning more about the threatened Abbeville Red iris and preserving its native habitat in Vermilion Parish.

One of the many attendees of the iris bloom event was Mayor Roslyn White of Abbeville, La. She was given a special tour of the irises blooming along the boardwalk at her request. She said she came out to learn more about the importance of the Abbeville Red iris to people worldwide as part of her initiative to increase eco-tourism and cultural tourism for her city and parish. "We predict great things will come from her adding this special iris, whose only native habitat in the world is near Abbeville, to the list of things the city and parish have to offer visitors, " Salathe says.

Some of the many people who came to Palmetto Island State Park to see the irises blooming are shown during LICI's Abbeville Red Iris Bloom event on April 6, 2024.

Salathe was pleased with the turnout for LICI's first iris bloom event at the park. He said it is very likely that LICI will do it again in the spring of 2025, with a target date of Saturday, April 5th. Salathe expects to confirm that this event will be held sometime this fall.

LICI and Common Ground Relief Complete Their Winter 2023-2024 Tree Planting Project in a New Orleans Refuge

March 12, 2024 New Orleans, LA

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) and Common Ground Relief have announced the completion of their winter 2023 - 2024 joint tree planting project at the US Fish & Wildlife Service's Bayou Sauvage National Urban Wildlife Refuge in New Orleans, La. The two groups gathered enough volunteers to plant over 3,000 tree seedlings this winter.

A volunteer group is shown during one of LICI's fall 2023 Monday work-morning events. LICI has held these work mornings each spring and fall since 2021 to kill the Chinese tallow invasive tree species to open areas up for new native trees to be planted. They also cleared brush and young tallow trees that covered existing native trees, which had been planted in previous years by other volunteer groups.

LICI is the originator and permit holder for the Chinese tallow tree eradication project and the tree planting project in the refuge, which has been ongoing for three years.

Gary Salathe, LICI's president, helped organize many of this season's tree-planting events, supervised the volunteers on some days, and helped supervise other days.

LICI's volunteers worked in the weeks before this year's tree plantings to kill bushes and Chinese tallow trees in some areas where the trees were to be planted. LICI's volunteers also set up small flags where each tree was to be planted in the days before each tree planting event in the refuge's ridge forest. Their volunteers also helped with planting the trees.

Common Ground Relief's co-directors, Josh Benitez and Christina Lehew, applied for the grants, ordered the trees, delivered the trees and the equipment needed, supplied volunteer groups, helped organize some of the events, and helped to supervise the volunteers on many of the planting days.

Common Ground Relief's co-directors, Josh Benitez and Christina Lehew, are shown on the non-profit's boat as they ferry volunteers for a tree planting event in the Bayou Sauvage Refuge in February 2024.

The Ella West Foundation and New Orleans Town & Gardeners issued the grants that funded the project, as they have for two previous years. "We greatly appreciated their confidence and support in our tree planting project at the refuge," Salathe said. "Their funds allowed our partnership to accomplish the goal of planting 3,000 seedlings this winter at the refuge," Salathe added.

The tree planting events for the 2023-2024 winter planting season at the refuge:

January 9 to January 11, 2024

Sixteen student volunteers and their leaders from Drew University in New Jersey planted 1,000 bare-root hardwood seedlings. Common Ground Relief hosted the group during their one-week trip to New Orleans to volunteer for habitat restoration projects. They were staying at Common Ground's Ninth Ward headquarters buildings.

The Drew University volunteers are seen with bags full of tree seedlings as they prepare to go out to the planting site.

The group planted white oak, live oak, and American elm tree seedlings. Benitez said these are some of the tree species listed in a study done by the University of New Orleans of the native trees that were found in the refuge's ridge forest. The study was done just prior to Hurricane Katrina. "One of our goals is to try and get some of the tree species that did not survive the hurricane back into the ridge forest. However, the main goal is to replace every Chinese tallow tree in the boardwalk's ridge forest with a native tree," he said.

The seedlings were planted in the boardwalk area of the refuge's ridge forest. The group replaced about 25% of the trees planted last year that did not survive the extreme drought the area experienced this past summer and fall.

The Drew University volunteers and the project supervisors are seen after the last tree seedling was planted on January 11th.

Thursday, February 15, 2024

Volunteers from Common Ground Relief and LICI planted hundreds of bald cypress trees in a remote area of the refuge that was only accessible by boat. The refuge manager, Pon Dixson, ferried the volunteers, trees, and equipment to the site and back.

The Chinese tallow trees had not been killed off at this new site, so plans will be made to come back in the fall to do this.

Some volunteers from February 15th are shown in the photo on the left during the boat ride to the site. All of the volunteers are shown in the group photo taken at the end of the day.

Friday, February 16, 2024

Nine volunteers from Limitless Vistas, Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans, Common Ground Relief, and LICI planted over 250 tree seedlings on a gloomy, drizzly day. The group planted cypress and hackberry trees in the refuge's boardwalk ridge forest.

LICI's Gary Salathe (center) is seen with two of the workers from Limitless Vistas during the February 16th tree planting event.

Monday, February 19, 2024

Volunteers from Common Ground Relief, Limitless Vistas, Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans, and LICI returned to the refuge's ridge forest and planted another 350 bald cypress and hackberry trees.

After planting the last trees, the February 19th volunteers took this group photo.

February 27 - 29, 2024

Local volunteers from Common Ground Relief and LICI worked for three days to finish planting cypress trees in the remote area of the refuge that was only accessible by boat. (Photos above)

Monday, March 4, 2024

Volunteers from Limitless Vistas, Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans, and LICI returned to the refuge's ridge forest. They planted the last of the 3,000 trees, finishing up the project for the year.

Limitless Vistas' workers are seen getting ready to plant the last cypress and hackberry trees in the refuge's ridge forest on March 4th.

This is the third and last year of LICI's and Common Ground Relief's partnership to restore the Bayou Sauvage Refuge Ridge forest in the boardwalk area. Salathe said, "This is a great example of how numerous individual volunteers with diverse backgrounds and volunteers from various organizations can come together to do great things. Our project with Common Ground Relief accomplished our goal of restoring this critical area of the ridge forest only because of the help we received from everyone involved. 'Thank you!' goes out to them."

LICI's original goal was to only restore the ridge forest in the boardwalk area of the refuge. Even though that goal has been accomplished, 60% of the ridge forest outside the boardwalk area still needs restoration.

Common Ground plans to continue the work of restoring the entire ridge forest over the next few years. They will apply for a permit to continue the work during the 2024- 2025 winter planting season.

LICI will be asking the refuge staff to renew the group's permit for 2024-2025 to remove brush and young tallow trees that may grow over the tree seedlings planted this season.

Salathe says he is often asked why his iris group is killing tallow trees and planting native trees. He said he always refers people to this blog posting to get the answer: https://theamericanirissociety.blogspot.com/2022/03/mission-creep-and-conservation-of.html.of

LICI Starts New Iris Restoration Project in Pierre Part, LA

March 3, 2024 Pierre Part, LA

The Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) has begun a new iris restoration project in the small town of Pierre Part, LA, in the middle of Louisiana's iris country within the Atchafalaya Basin swamp. Many people only became aware of the small village once the History Channel's TV program Swamp People aired in 2010. The show features the Landry family, among others, from the towns of Pierre Part and nearby Belle River and their adventures in the nearby swamp hunting alligators.

Beryl Gomez is shown at LICI's iris planting in Pierre Plat on March 2, 2024.

Beryl Gomez, Secretary/Treasurer of Assumption Parish Recreation District No. 2, contacted LICI about the possibility of the group donating some of its rescued irises for planting in two projects in town that she is involved in: one is in Veterans Park, an important location for the recreation district, and the other is at the proposed Pierre Part Belle River Museum site.

This December 2023 photo shows the new kayak launch. The bayou shoreline on either side of the launch offered the possibility of planting irises if the existing brush and

bulrushes were removed.

Veterans Park is in the center of the small town, and a kayak launch was recently installed as part of their Water Trails initiative. She was introduced to LICI by one of the members of the T.E.C.H.E Project, who told her of LICI's work planting or donating irises at the kayak launches that are part of T.E.C.H.E Project's Bayou Teche Paddle Trail. Gomez thought planting Louisiana irises along the shoreline of the bayou at the new kayak launch would be a great addition to the Park's native plant program.

Gomez felt that the small cypress swamp at the future Pierre Part Belle River Museum entrance would be a great location to introduce visitors to the native Louisiana iris.

Land for the Belle Part Belle River Museum has been donated, and funds are in place to build it. The museum will sit on a site covered with live oak trees and include a boardwalk into a nearby swamp. It also has a small cypress swamp along the highway where the entrance to the museum complex will be. The idea was that irises could be planted in the cypress swamp at the entrance now so they could be thinned out after the boardwalk is built to plant irises there.

On March 2, 2024, the first site at the future museum was planted with irises using local volunteers and LICI's volunteers, who drove in from other areas to help out.

When Gomez contacted LICI's president and founder, Gary Salathe, he said that he thought the sites and the project would fit LICI's goals. This was confirmed after Salathe made a trip to Pierre Plat, met Gomez, and visited the two sites. "I was impressed not only with the two locations but also with Beryl's enthusiasm for projects, " he said.

Gomez spread the word locally about LICI's iris donation and asked for help planting the irises. Although the town is in the center of the Atchafalaya Swamp, there were no public displays of the native I. giganticaerulea species of the Louisiana iris, which is found in abundance in the swamp. She received an excellent response to her call for volunteers.

Salathe also sent out a request for help to LICI's volunteers and was surprised that quite a few were willing to take the long dive to reach the remote town to help.

This photo shows the volunteers who planted the irises at the future museum site. They planted about 250 irises in only 1 1/2 hours. (The gasoline-powered auger in the photo just right of center was a huge labor-saving device for the volunteers.)

Salathe delivered 500 Louisiana irises to the museum planting site on the morning of March 2, 2024. They had been dug up by volunteers from LICI's New Orleans iris holding area over the previous two days. "These were the last of the irises our volunteers had rescued in 2023, so the Pierre Plat planting finished up our iris planting season," Salathe said.

Half of the irises were planted at the museum site after Salathe and Gomez gave the opening remarks and a safety talk. One of the local volunteers brought a power auger to the site, which significantly reduced the volunteers' work in planting the irises.

Volunteers begin work at the second site later on the morning of March 2nd.

Gomez had a park contractor, who had volunteered to do the job at no cost, clear out all of the brush and cattail plants along the shoreline of the bayou at the second site; the new kayak launch in Veterans Park. He accomplished the job the week before the planting event, so all was ready for iris planting day.

Most of the future museum site volunteers relocated to the kayak launch, along with the remaining 250 irises, where they were met by some new volunteers who wanted to help out, too. The twenty-eight volunteers got to work, and in a short time, the irises were planted along the bayou's shoreline.

The irises at the kayak launch were planted in over a 100' of bayou shoreline on one side of the launch and in an area about 30' long on the other side.

Gomez's plan called for more native plants to be added on the slope above the irises within the following month. An irrigation system is also to be added. The park wants the kayak launch to be a welcoming and beautiful location for the kayakers that they hope will come from outside the area.

The volunteers at Pierre Plat's Veterans Park, the second iris planting site in town, are shown after planting the last iris.

At the end of the event, after being profusely thanked by Gomez and Darrel Rivere, President of the Pierre Part Belle River Museum non-profit, Salathe summed up: "We appreciate Beryl and the folks in Pierre Part and Belle River for welcoming us into their communities to help them become part of the native plant and habitat restoration movement which is growing in leaps and bounds throughout Louisiana. Having the chief of the fire department and a police officer at the kayak launch to direct and slow down traffic to make it safer for the volunteers was fantastic. We also hope that our blooming donated irises will one day be another draw to bring visitors to their beautiful and historic towns.

"We'd also like to thank Darrel Rivere for prepping the museum site for us, coming up with the idea of using a power auger to help plant the irises, and just generally being so enthusiastic, friendly, and helpful to us and all that attended the event. His and Beryl's excitement for getting the irises and having them planted rubbed off on the volunteers as we all worked together."