The final batch of discarded Tangipahoa Christmas trees are now part of West Jones Island.
West Jones Island is a 700 acre marshy area near Manchac, where a team of Southeastern biologists is working to fight marsh erosion.
Students from a Southeastern Environmental Science class loaded roughly 400 trees into pontoon boat Friday morning, and laid them, in a pattern, along the edge of West Jones Island.
"The theory is to put the Christmas trees here to build up the Christmas Tree levee," Biologist Dr. Rob Moreau of Southeastern's Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station. "Then in front, we plant marsh restoration grasses that stabilize the mudflat and the bank, and then if you start to build up land behind and you have enough elevation behind, you can plant Cypress Trees behind it."
The 400 trees placed in the marsh Friday make more than 28,000 put down in the past decade, and Southeastern scientists told Eyewitness News, they can see evidence the Christmas Trees help.
"It's a fact," said Hayden Reno, Southeastern's Facilities Manager at the Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station. "I was here when they started this project, and it really does make a difference, a big difference."
Some trees, biologists said, can get blown away by storms, but if the trees are given a little time to settle, vegetation will grow through them and vines over them to hold them in place.
Once that happens, they say, the trees make a huge difference on Jones Island.
"This water right here is so full of sediment or suspended solids, so when the water rises up on the marsh, it collects in these Christmas trees," said Southeastern Biologist Fred Stouder, the Marsh Restoration Coordinator at the Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station.
"We're actually building the marsh up to fight subsidence, and fighting erosion at the same time."
The students get a first hand lesson in erosion and restoration.
"Knowing what problems we have, and I'm helping," Southeastern Senior Brittany Quinn of Port Allen said, "it actually feels pretty rewarding."
"We have a hand in helping the future out here and that's really important," Southeastern Sophomore Kaci Wilson of Destrehan added.
While the Christmas Tree program is working, Southeastern Biologists said, Jones Island is gigantic, and the entire Lake Maurepas area needs a massive amount of help.
Moreau said, the only long term answer is to get more fresh water into the Lake Maurepas area through Mississippi River diversions.
In the meantime though, Moreau said, this program is working.
