Elmer "Lloyd" Matherne
February 15, 2010
Attempt to raise rates denied by insurance dept.
February 18, 2010
Over 160 children from four area schools lined up to touch live baby alligators, see a giant horned owl, play with a black bear, and even talk to Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District’s Executive Director Reggie Dupre.
The South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Group organized a field trip for World Wetlands Day at the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum for fifth and sixth-graders from across the parish. Booths were set up by wetlands conservation and industry groups alike.
“This is a great way for us to reach out and help student get interested in wetlands for further in life,” said Paul Guidry, who organized the event for the Wetlands Discovery Center. “It’s been great. The kids are loving it; the teachers are loving it. It’s been a good time.”
For many students, last Tuesday’s event represented a chance to learn more about the environment around them that they don’t often get to see. The youngsters were given a chance to play with a pollution model from the South Central Planning and Development Commission, learn about wildlife animals with the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) and were taught about – and challenged to eat – oysters at the Motivatit Seafood booth.
“I think sometimes kids, they live right in the middle of all of this incredible wildlife and incredible wetlands environment but they take it for granted. They just think every place must be like this. Everyplace must have cypress trees; everyplace must have abundant oyster harvests. So this is an attempt to open their eyes and let them see how special where they live is,” said Motivatit’s Vice President of Marketing Kevin Voisin.
The event paid particular attention to flora and fauna and solving the challenges of Louisiana’s disappearing coast. “No place on earth is disappearing faster,” warned a sign from the Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program. Although the issues surrounding coastal erosion can be a bit abstruse, the students responded well to the event’s presentations.
“I thought it was a really good experience for them. I think a lot of them don’t understand about coastal wetlands and how much it impacts us living in Houma. So, I think it’s a great opportunity for them to come out and learn more about our coastal wetlands and what we can do to protect it,” said Nellie Brown, a teacher at Southdown Elementary, who brought her students to the event.
With the area’s wetlands sinking into the Gulf, it’s important to educate students on the issues because of the threat it poses to local wildlife, industry and the region’s distinctive way of life, said Alma Robichaux, the Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program’s education coordinator.
“It’s definitely the future of it, to educate the children is to benefit the coast of Louisiana so they know what the problems are and they know how to solve them,” said Robichaux. “If you give them the right tools they’ll be able to take that and pass it on. It’s our legacy, and it was fun.”
Jennifer Robinson (left), holds a baby alligator named Bart for the students of Nellie Brown’s 5th-grade class from Southdown Elementary School in Houma. * Photo by BRETT SCHWEINBERG
