Volunteers needed to plant dune grasses adjacent to Grand Isle levee

Project funded by state agency will protect west side of Louisiana’s last inhabited barrier island

October 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is seeking volunteers to plant dune grasses on Grand Isle next month. The nonprofit organization and the Jefferson Parish Ecosystem and Coastal Management Department will mobilize the volunteers to plant 25,000 plugs of bitter panicum along a stretch of beach near a levee that was badly damaged in Hurricane Ida. The project is being funded by the FY24 Parish Matching Program through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. CPRA was also instrumental in identifying the planting site.

The volunteers will plant dune grasses on Nov. 20, 21 and 22 near sand fencing along the newly constructed levee on the Gulf side of the island. As sand blows across the beach, the grasses will slow it down and cause it to fall. Over time, the sand will build up and collect to form a dune. This extra protection between the levee and the beach will act as an additional line of storm defense for Grand Isle and its infrastructure, as well as protecting habitat for nesting shorebirds.

“Grand Isle is such an important place in Louisiana and Jefferson Parish, encapsulating the connection between seafood and culture,” said Andrew Ferris, CRCL’s Native Plants Program senior coordinator. “CRCL is excited to be a part of this project to protect its future. We hope anyone who has an affinity for the island will consider joining us.”

Volunteers can register online. CRCL will provide water, lunch and all necessary equipment needed for the day, including work gloves and sunscreen. For more information, see CRCL’s volunteer events webpage.

Since its founding in 1988, CRCL has been a prominent advocate for policies to restore and protect the state’s coast, where about 2,000 square miles of wetlands have vanished in less than a century. Through its Oyster Shell Recycling Program, CRCL has recycled more than 15 million pounds of shell, keeping the resource out of landfills and using it instead to build reefs that create habitat for new oysters and that slow the rate of land loss.

The organization has planted more than 1 million trees and plants across Louisiana’s coast through its Native Plants Program. CRCL also hosts the biennial State of the Coast conference, holds talks as part of its CRCLectures series, and educates people through its Future Coastal Leaders program and Coastal Leadership Institute.

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The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to unite people in action to achieve a thriving, sustainable Louisiana coast for all.