Conservation coastal planting
St. Mary Soil and Water Conservation District and several volunteers were at Burns Point July 14 engaged in their annual planting of marsh grass.
This year, instead of bulrush, SMSWCD planted soft cord grass, working back from the wave-breaks of the bulrush, toward the banks of the marshes, filling-in the gaps with the soft cord grass.
Kaleb McDade, district vegetative technician with Gulf Coast Soil and Water Conservation District in Lake Charles, explained, “The bulrush can take a little deeper water, but the soft cord grass needs it to be a bit more shallow.
“Basically, what we do is… about a year-and-a-half out (from planting time) we (GCSWCD) will write a proposal for our site plan.
“What we are doing today was written and figured out in the winter of 2018.
“So, this winter, I’ll come here and check to see if there are some areas here that need more plants in 2022.”
He added that the particular plan at the Burns Point planting site is to stop silt and mud borne on/in breaking waves at the line of bulrush, create there a mud bank/wave-break, and allow the receding bank of the marsh, to “hopefully” pull forward with the help of the soft cord grass and the mud deposits it traps.
“Smooth cord (grass) is versatile,” McDade said. “It can handle being on a beach, it can handle being in water at about knee-height depths, whereas bulrush can be planted deeper because it grows tall, and it grows like a fingerling.
“There is a lot of science that goes into figuring out the type of plants we are going to use and the best ways to use them.”
According to McDade, this year’s plants, the soft cord grass, grows in thick clumps, and for that reason will be suited to stop whatever wave erosion potential makes it through the bulrush.
As for being able to see the dividends of the planting project, McDade said it is evident that progress is being made at the Burns Point site one only needs to look at the growth as planned, where the goal is to “fill in, and fill out.”
To volunteer for “much needed” assistance with next year’s planting, or any other SMSWCD projects taking place this year, visit https://www.facebook.com/StMarySWCD/, or call (337) 828-1461.