Transportation for this field trip was in a comfortable, air conditioned bus. Future trips will not have such spacious accommodations!
Our host for the trip to Jean Laffitte was Christina Seelaus. Christina, shown here on the left, addresses the class on the banks of Bayou Des Familles where it joins Bayou Coquilles. Christina brings a unique perspective to our class, in part because she graduated from the class two years ago.
The class this fall is larger than in past years. We have 27 students and three instructors. Here Christina tells a part of the class about the Indian mounds at the junction of bayous Des Familles and Coquilles.
The trail meanders from the banks of Bayou Des Familles (once a distributary of the Mississippi River) out into the marsh on the east side of Lake Cataouche and Lake Salvadore. As we leave the bayou bank we descend from above sea level to sea level, and the vegetation changes as the trail becomes lower and lower. Here we see an example of the hardwood forest located on the relatively high land located near the bayou banks.
Christina speaks to the class near one of the Indian middens that mark the western edge of the trail. Indians lived near the banks of Bayou Des Familles because the land was higher and dryer. Studies of the plants in this area indicate that the Indian sites have a richer flora than areas not inhabited by pre-contact peoples. The middens (garbage piles) provide a unique habitat along the bayou.
There is no end to the diversity of insect life in this part of Louisiana. In addition to large grasshoppers like this one, we also saw a variety of spiders and other insects.
We learned a good deal about the flora of the National Park. here we see one of the many palmetto that inhabit the zone between the high levee of the bayou and the flat marsh farther east. Christina told us how we could use our observations about palmetto growth patterns to understand the immediate ecological context.
As we moved eastward the vegetation changed from dense oak-hickory forest to more open woods with cypress, tupelo, and red maple. Here we see cypress draped with Spanish moss.
Christina makes a point about the ecology of the region. A thunder storm was moving into the area and we had to leave before we could get all the way to the end of the trail. Still, we got a good introduction to the region and a nice (but damp) tour of part of the park.
We were just getting out towards the marsh when we had to leave. Here we see how the marsh vegetation is lower, with grasses and shrubs more common. The land out here becomes super saturated and is referred to as flotant. The flotant is really a mat of vegetation, muck, and soil that is floating on the water. This is a unique habitat and provides a good example,e of how fragile the environment of this region really is.