Today was a fabulous day on the Pearl River! After working in the lab and assisting some of the other teaching fellows in the morning I headed out on kayak with our fearless leader Mike and one of the other fellows, Tony! When we arrived at our plot location we noticed a fresh alligator slide going into the water... I guess that is better that he is in the water and not up on the land where we were headed! 

After almost losing my flip flops that I was kayaking in I put on my Snake Boots and headed into the forest! Thank goodness for Mike and his machete!!! Some of that brush was thick but it was more amazing to see other parts of the forest completely destroyed still from Katrina. The Pearl River Wildlife Management Area is located in Slidell, LA which was one of the hardest hit areas when Katrina came ashore. In fact there was a thirty-foot storm surge at the base of the river and travelled up the Pearl River destroying much of the natural wildlife as well as local fish houses (see above). 

It was good to see that plants were coming back (slowly) and that new fishing houses were being built, but it makes me wonder if they consider the strong possibility that storms of Katrina's magnitude could possibly become more frequent causing more damage to their livelihood and local ecology. Many of the people in Slidell rely on hunting not simply for pleasure but also for food, especially when times are tough and businesses are not coming back as quickly as they assumed they would after Katrina. Perhaps with better public awareness and policy to protect both the people and the land, improvements can be made and the devastation and the lives lost will not be repeated!

I look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!