Bayou Farewell: Experiencing Challenges of Living on the Coast

"To supplement their reading of Mike Tidwell's Bayou Farewell: The Rich and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast, students in English I Honors/World Geography Honors participated in a field experience to several areas of local interest concerning the fragility of our coast. Students visited the Caernarvon FreshWater Diversion in Poydras, Louisiana, to see firsthand the mechanics of a river diversion, viewed by many environmental scientists as the best and most natural way to bring sediment back into the marshes to rebuild land. They participated in an oyster recycling activity through the Coalition to Restore Louisiana's Coast in Violet, Louisiana, bagging oyster shells donated by local restaurants that will be used to build an underwater barrier south of Houma. They also completed six different water testing activities on the shore of Lake Pontchartrain at the Jouandot Family Camp in Slidell, Louisiana, under the supervision of seniors in Mr. Joshua Thomas's dual enrollment with UNO Environmental Science class. Finally, riding down Highway 90, students viewed Fort Pike, a remnant of the third system of coastal forts on the southern and eastern coasts of the US, and stopped at St. Nicholas of Myra mission church in Lake Catherine, a church devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but rebuilt to serve the population of this small community who live outside the flood protection system.