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,Our thanks to all who submitted their fine images to our 2022 LMNA Photo Contest. As last year, there were five categories with a sub-division of professional and amateur class in each category. Rendezvous members could vote for their favorites on our Facebook page. There were 27 entries altogether, 17 amateur and 10 professional. It was another fantastic offering for the Master Naturalists' image bank. Thank you!
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SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS Delahoussaye's Scientific Publications include the following:
JIM AS ZOOARCHAEOLOGIST: EXPLORING, COLLECTING, ANALYZING |
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 Dr. Caroline Dormon in action! Copyright NSU Libraries, Cammie G. Henry Research Center, Caroline Dormon Collection Is there someone in your community, or beyond, that you would like to nominate for the Louisiana Master Naturalists' most prestigious award? | Who Do You Feel Deserves the Caroline Dormon Outstanding Louisiana Naturalist Award 2022 ? The Louisiana Master Naturalists formed to develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach and service dedicated to the beneficial management of the natural resources within our communities in the state of Louisiana, USA. Our association serves seven distinct groups: Greater New Orleans Chapter Web & Facebook Acadiana Chapter (Lafayette area) Web & Facebook Southwest Chapter (Lake Charles area) Web & Facebook Greater Baton Rouge Chapter Web & Facebook CenLa Chapter (Alexandria area) Facebook Northeast Chapter (Monroe area) Web & Facebook Northwest Chapter (Shreveport/Bossier area) Web & Facebook Acadiana Chapter (Lafayette area) Web & Facebook Every year we honor an exemplary naturalistOur highest award for a Louisiana Naturalist is named after Dr. Caroline Dormon, eminent and accomplished Louisiana naturalist, environmental educator, horticulturist, ornithologist, historian, archaeologist, preservationist, conservationist, and author. Amongst other achievements she was the first female in the US Forestry Service and founded Louisiana’s wonderful Kisatchie National Forest, the Louisiana State Arboretum in Ville Platte, and the Briarwood Nature Retreat. |
 This Caroline Dormon Outstanding Louisiana Master Naturalist Award Trophy was presented to Kelby Ouchley in 2020. Image and copyright Dr. B. Kauffman 2020. |
See more information with photos at https://www.louisianamasternaturalist.org/the-dormon-award.html | ||||
Please note that even if a nominee doesn't win this year, their name and information will be carried forward and reconsidered in future years.
We appreciate your help. All nominations must be received by February 28, 2022.
Please don't hesitate to contact Raymond or myself if you have any questions or concerns and we'll be happy to help.
Best wishes,
Charles
Charles Paxton
Communications Officer
318-331-1531
[email protected]
Board Member in Charge of Caroline Dormon Awards Committee
Larry Raymond
[email protected]
6675 North Park Circle, Shreveport, LA 71107.
Questions can be directed to Larry at 318-347-3134.
We appreciate your help. All nominations must be received by February 28, 2022.
Please don't hesitate to contact Raymond or myself if you have any questions or concerns and we'll be happy to help.
Best wishes,
Charles
Charles Paxton
Communications Officer
318-331-1531
[email protected]
Board Member in Charge of Caroline Dormon Awards Committee
Larry Raymond
[email protected]
6675 North Park Circle, Shreveport, LA 71107.
Questions can be directed to Larry at 318-347-3134.
Click the above still frame or click here to view the video on LMNA Channel
Living With Water - A Solutions Focused Panel Discussion
This video could be of interest to anyone whose community environment includes this vital but mercurial element!
This video could be of interest to anyone whose community environment includes this vital but mercurial element!
By Aimée K. Thomas, Ph.D. Director of Environment Program Department of Biological Sciences & Environment Program Loyola University New Orleans.
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“Water Management and its Ecological Health and Societal Impacts” panel discussion was hosted on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at Loyola New Orleans by the Loyola University New Orleans Environment Program and Department of Biological Sciences in conjunction with the Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans.
The panelists are successful and inspiring leaders from the Greater New Orleans community who were invited to discuss the role their organizations play in storm water management, utilizing innovative approaches to solve environmental water issues so that we can all learn how to reduce our impact and sustainably embrace living with water. We recorded it and it is available on our YouTube channel. Please share to others through email, social media and your website. The purpose of our research is to bring different communities together in the hopes of developing creative sustainable ways of dealing with excess water around the city.
We are also studying the changes, if any, that people make after learning about the significance of water and empowering them to take control of their environment! Our video on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLkX17iOtOE&t=0s Mirabeau Water Project Resilience & Sustainability - Areas of Focus - Green Infrastructure - Hazard Mitigation - Stormwater Projects - Mirabeau Water Garden: Phase I - City of New Orleans (nola.gov) Web. www.loyno.edu/environment Visit our website. Tropicalnaturalhistory.org Facebook @loyola environment program Twitter @ loyolaENVA Instagram @loyolaenvironment |
A little background on this event: New Orleans is a coastal city which is particularly vulnerable to flooding and faces increasing threats of hurricanes, sea level rise, and subsidence, which are all factors that increase the severity of flooding.
Because on average the city gets 64 inches of rain each year, we have flooding issues that have been solved by pumping excess water from the streets to a canal system that feeds to Lake Pontchartrain using gray infrastructure. The participants are New Orleans citizens including local high school teachers and students, members of non-profits, industry figures, scientists, engineers, and academics. They have all learned about the formation of southeast Louisiana, the founding of New Orleans, gray and green infrastructure, and creating the best tools for educating the community about sustainably embracing water in our city. Our Panelists include: USACE: William Veatch, Hydrologist, Mastodonte: Arien Hall & Luisa Abballe, Business Owners Sewerage & Water Board New Orleans: Tyler Antwerp, Director Thrive Nola: Willie Autman, Green Works Manager Urban Conservancy: Sam Commagere, Program Manager |
Hosted October 6th, 2021, by Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater Baton Rouge, this episode of LMNGBR Nature Notes brings us a Zoom presentation by Emma Reid, award-winning film maker of "Finding Common Ground" (Telly Award) and "In The Blind"!
Emma studied Environmental Science at Loyola University, New Orleans, and trained as an intern at the Institute of Environmental Communication (IEC). Emma is the 2019 Louisiana Wildlife Federation Conservation Communicator of The Year and is a member of Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans. She is currently employed by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and serves as a swamp tour guide !
Emma talks about her video production / conservation education work and how she saw change coming through the film-making process. The discussion includes sediment diversion and the jetty break-waters, and of how Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of indigenous Native Americans and the Shrimpers' local knowledge when coupled with technical quantifiable science resulted in great conservation synergy. Emma also talks about her film "In The Blind" and her learning about the duck hunting and waterfowl conservation connection. She went filming with Audubon ornithologists and Duck's Unlimited and hunters to bridge the understanding between non-hunters and hunters. While the song-birds populations seem to be sadly collapsing, there's better news about waterfowl. They have been doing better, thanks to the current conservation system. Emma also announces plans to be producing regular Naturalist podcasts called The Southern Naturalist!
Emma studied Environmental Science at Loyola University, New Orleans, and trained as an intern at the Institute of Environmental Communication (IEC). Emma is the 2019 Louisiana Wildlife Federation Conservation Communicator of The Year and is a member of Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater New Orleans. She is currently employed by Louisiana Public Broadcasting and serves as a swamp tour guide !
Emma talks about her video production / conservation education work and how she saw change coming through the film-making process. The discussion includes sediment diversion and the jetty break-waters, and of how Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) of indigenous Native Americans and the Shrimpers' local knowledge when coupled with technical quantifiable science resulted in great conservation synergy. Emma also talks about her film "In The Blind" and her learning about the duck hunting and waterfowl conservation connection. She went filming with Audubon ornithologists and Duck's Unlimited and hunters to bridge the understanding between non-hunters and hunters. While the song-birds populations seem to be sadly collapsing, there's better news about waterfowl. They have been doing better, thanks to the current conservation system. Emma also announces plans to be producing regular Naturalist podcasts called The Southern Naturalist!
- Loyola University New Orleans Institute for Environmental Communication (IEC) https://lucec.loyno.edu/institute-env...
- Louisiana Wildlife Federation Conservation Awards https://lawildlifefed.org/what-we-do/...
- LPB In The Blind press release https://www.lpb.org/press-releases/in...
- In The Blind Trailer https://www.lpb.org/programs/in-the-b...
- Finding Common Ground https://youtu.be/nFj2vhehgzk
Northeastern Louisiana is a Freshwater turtle biodiversity hotspot and West Monroe's Lazarre Park offers prime nesting conditions that are becoming exceedingly rare these days along The Ouachita River. Some of the Louisiana Master Naturalists, Park managers and interested members of the public joined Professor John Carr and his students from the ULM Biology Department at West Monroe's beautiful Lazarre Park on September 20th, 2021.
It was hazy and bright, perfect conditions for release of three freshwater turtle species back into their Ouachita river home. The Smooth Softshells (Apalone mutica) and the endemic Ouachita Map Turtles (Graptemys ouachitensis) are species of conservation concern. The Mississippi Map Turtles (Graptemys pseudogeographica kohni) are more widespread but nonetheless suffer from increasing predation and so their conservation is also important.
Professor Carr raised these hatchlings from eggs that he and his students had formerly collected at Lazarre. Raising the hatchlings in incubators protects them from possible predation by foxes and raccoons. He is going to deliver a report of this project to the authorities and LDWF about this important habitat. For more information about Dr. Carr see https://webservices.ulm.edu/facultyac... and https://www.ulm.edu/~carr/
It was hazy and bright, perfect conditions for release of three freshwater turtle species back into their Ouachita river home. The Smooth Softshells (Apalone mutica) and the endemic Ouachita Map Turtles (Graptemys ouachitensis) are species of conservation concern. The Mississippi Map Turtles (Graptemys pseudogeographica kohni) are more widespread but nonetheless suffer from increasing predation and so their conservation is also important.
Professor Carr raised these hatchlings from eggs that he and his students had formerly collected at Lazarre. Raising the hatchlings in incubators protects them from possible predation by foxes and raccoons. He is going to deliver a report of this project to the authorities and LDWF about this important habitat. For more information about Dr. Carr see https://webservices.ulm.edu/facultyac... and https://www.ulm.edu/~carr/
 For details of our nature walk there and the inspiring presentation by West Monroe's Parks and Recreation Director, Stuart Hodnett, please click here for more on Wild Open Eye blog. |  Stuart Hodnett explaining the improvements in West Monroe's Park system
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 Official bio-pic of Sharon Lavigne from the Goldman Prize website | In September 2019, Sharon Lavigne, a special education teacher turned environmental justice advocate, successfully stopped the construction of a US$1.25 billion plastics manufacturing plant alongside the Mississippi River in St. James Parish, Louisiana, thus preventing the further release of one million pounds of liquid hazardous waste annually, in a region already contending with known carcinogens and toxic air pollution. Lavigne mobilized grassroots opposition to the project, educated community members, and organized peaceful protests to successfully defend her predominantly African American community and the local wildlife. For more info on The Goldman Prize please see https://www.goldmanprize.org/ |
 | Better understanding and mitigating flood risk is the topic of Environmental Engineer and Consulting Hydrologist Bob Jacobson's zoom presentation to Louisiana Master Naturalists of Greater Baton Rouge in this video recorded on October 27, 2021. The Zoom presentation is now up on the LMNA Channel at https://youtu.be/EHRg0abwXFw |
Bob has Masters degrees in Environmental Policy (1981) and Environmental Engineering (1996 ) from LSU. Coping with climate change is a hot topic with a bearing on everyone's lives these days. In this video, Bob Jacobson frames the debate, clarifies the real likelihood of the "1 in a thousand-year flood" in human terms, spotlighting true mitigation, i.e. insuring for the dollar risk of flood events to allow the capacity to recover. He doesn't mince his words. Evacuation is the primary response to flood risk. Government evacuation orders are there to help save lives not real estate property, insure the property for your recovery. Over the next decade we'll see major changes in the handling of risk and mortgages will include flood insurance. Levees and other engineering works should be regarded as insurance cost reduction measures, not hurricane protective measures.
Bob identifies and clarifies the five tenets of flood risk in dollar terms. Ri$k.
- Tenet 1. Flood exposure is location specific
- Tenet 2. Flood Hazard is a mathematical curve
- Tenet 3. Flood risk is a present value
- Tenet 4. Due diligence is fairly pricing risk
- Tenet 5. Resiliency is good insurance + sensible mitigation Technology is making 21 Century wisdom a reality.
The principle of buyer beware applies to property and owners / prospective owners. We should apply due diligence. Insurance is our best way to mitigate flood risk to enable property recovery.
Owners must calculate their own flood risk, he says, and explains why the National Flood Insurance Program is not really fit for purpose. He asks the government to:
1. Adopt five tenets of 21st Century Flood Risk Wisdom. Educate officials, media and public to abandon foolish approaches. He says the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) is not supporting due diligence - please stop subsidizing excessive risk-taking, please stop over-pricing modest risk exposure. He says the NFIP is not supporting resiliency - there's a massive uninsured population, and damages are worsening with climate change and equity and justice issues are very apparent. We must try to be fair and avoid sub-optimal mitigation decisions.
2. Help modernize the Standard Operating Procedure for property transaction due diligence and support an online tool for pricing every property's flood risk. Accelerate our ability to accurately define the expected annual cost of flood risk for our property, the present value
3. Update 8 ultra-high resolution geospatial data
4.Continuously improve change forecasts
5.Properly regulate flood insurance markets
6. Broaden participation in good flood insurance No mortgaged property should be uninsured for the "30-year snake-eyes chance flood". He argues that flood risk is commonly underestimated, in a hypothetical family of 12 siblings, each living for 80 years, distributed widely, he says one of them has a 1 in 12 chance of experiencing a 1-chance-in-1,000-per-year-chance flood (snake-eyes).
7. Promote only sensible public projects and programs for mitigating flood risk. Don't waste tax dollars mitigating a flood risk that is cheaper for property owners to insure.
8. There are equity and justice issues regarding property, historically marginalized people may need assistance with their flood insurance.
9. Promote no adverse impact on floodplain capacity flood storage and flood conveyance.
Don't increase flood risk pricing for other communities or neighbors (public & private projects). Don't place all burden on new development. Consider a uniform run-off tax. Drainage improvement and levees are useful. Also floodplain roads and bridges. Clearing ditches and culverts can help protect the lowest guy on the block.
10. Separate flood plain ecosystem restoration from sensible flood risk mitigation. They are both equally valid but distinct public objectives (by treating these separately you will likely get the best options for both goals). In Ecosystem restoration projects, please optimize for habitat In flood risk mitigation$ please optimize for flood insurance cost reduction and ensure that the insured owner beneficiaries contribute to the cost.
2. Help modernize the Standard Operating Procedure for property transaction due diligence and support an online tool for pricing every property's flood risk. Accelerate our ability to accurately define the expected annual cost of flood risk for our property, the present value
3. Update 8 ultra-high resolution geospatial data
4.Continuously improve change forecasts
5.Properly regulate flood insurance markets
6. Broaden participation in good flood insurance No mortgaged property should be uninsured for the "30-year snake-eyes chance flood". He argues that flood risk is commonly underestimated, in a hypothetical family of 12 siblings, each living for 80 years, distributed widely, he says one of them has a 1 in 12 chance of experiencing a 1-chance-in-1,000-per-year-chance flood (snake-eyes).
7. Promote only sensible public projects and programs for mitigating flood risk. Don't waste tax dollars mitigating a flood risk that is cheaper for property owners to insure.
8. There are equity and justice issues regarding property, historically marginalized people may need assistance with their flood insurance.
9. Promote no adverse impact on floodplain capacity flood storage and flood conveyance.
Don't increase flood risk pricing for other communities or neighbors (public & private projects). Don't place all burden on new development. Consider a uniform run-off tax. Drainage improvement and levees are useful. Also floodplain roads and bridges. Clearing ditches and culverts can help protect the lowest guy on the block.
10. Separate flood plain ecosystem restoration from sensible flood risk mitigation. They are both equally valid but distinct public objectives (by treating these separately you will likely get the best options for both goals). In Ecosystem restoration projects, please optimize for habitat In flood risk mitigation$ please optimize for flood insurance cost reduction and ensure that the insured owner beneficiaries contribute to the cost.
Bob expands upon each area of his talk in the separate videos below:
The eight videos links and associated credit hours are:
The Five Tenets of 21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom—Introduction (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI1COouFhVc
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 1—Flood Exposure is Location-Specific (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmDWa0qxANg
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 2—Flood Hazard is a Mathematical Curve (0.3 hr) Very important! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqa_4exx1EM
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 3—Flood Risk is a Present Value (0.2 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9hHVmzTQ3E
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 4—Due Diligence is Pricing Risk (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIfYxuJEn9g
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 5—Resiliency is Good Insurance + Sensible Mitigation (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx-BDS06iuU
Technology is Making 21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom a Reality (0.3 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6td8O4t6UaM
Ten Wise Policies for Flood Risk Management (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QWhgcB-zY
Plus: Email Questions/Comments (0.2 hr) Total Credit Hours 1.5 hours. More if you re-watch the trickier bits.
We are very grateful to LMNGBR and to Bob Jacobson for his interesting presentations.
The Five Tenets of 21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom—Introduction (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI1COouFhVc
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 1—Flood Exposure is Location-Specific (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmDWa0qxANg
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 2—Flood Hazard is a Mathematical Curve (0.3 hr) Very important! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqa_4exx1EM
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 3—Flood Risk is a Present Value (0.2 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9hHVmzTQ3E
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 4—Due Diligence is Pricing Risk (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIfYxuJEn9g
21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom Tenet 5—Resiliency is Good Insurance + Sensible Mitigation (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx-BDS06iuU
Technology is Making 21st Century Flood Ri$k Wisdom a Reality (0.3 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6td8O4t6UaM
Ten Wise Policies for Flood Risk Management (0.1 hr)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3QWhgcB-zY
Plus: Email Questions/Comments (0.2 hr) Total Credit Hours 1.5 hours. More if you re-watch the trickier bits.
We are very grateful to LMNGBR and to Bob Jacobson for his interesting presentations.
LMNA News Blog
Welcome to the Louisiana Master Naturalist Association News Blog.
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