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Field Session

Climate Action

FRI-FS-07: Community-Led Climate Action: Experimental Planting Projects in New Orleans’ Central Wetlands

Friday, October 10, 2025
8:15 AM - 4:30 PM CT
Location: New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, Room 226
Ticket Purchase Required Meal Included Boat Tour
4.00 PDH, LA CES/HSW, AICP, ISA, FL
Ticket Price: $250 per person
Miyawaki Microforest, New Orleans
Miyawaki Microforest, New Orleans Lower Ninth Ward, Center for Sustainable Engagement Development, Stephanie Tarrant Photo

Participants will learn about the socio-ecological past, present, and future of New Orleans through an exploration of community-led ecosystem restoration efforts in the neighborhoods and wetlands along the city’s eastern fringe. Conclude with a trip by boat through Bayou Bienvenue to the massive storm surge barrier constructed after Hurricane Katrina.

Experience an exclusive, hands-on field session—limited to just 20 participants. Includes transportation, boat tour, and catered lunch.

Accessibility: A portion of this session takes place on a boat and is not wheelchair accessible, which may present challenges for attendees with mobility limitations.

Learning Outcomes:

  • Learn strategies for community-led environmental restoration and climate action, including organizational structures for planting and maintenance, funding sources, and research methods.
  • Learn the potentials and challenges of experimental planting in urban coastal environments, including brackish ecosystems with high storm vulnerability and a dynamic and complex salinity gradient.
  • Learn about the Miyawaki forest method as a method for high-disturbance ecosystems and see the results of an experimental Miyawaki microforest one year after planting.
  • Gain familiarity with the socio-ecological context of the city of New Orleans, particularly at its margins, where the legacy of industrial environmental racism is most present.