"MERAUX, La. — Across the calm waters behind a pumping station near Lake Borgne, hundreds of saplings stand out in the mist, wrapped in white plastic cylinders.

To get there and to other sites like it, organizers have ferried dozens of volunteers week after week in airboats. They have a trailer equipped with supplies. Rubber boots in all different sizes. Bins full of snacks for the end of a hard day’s work.

One day, they hope to see 30,000 fully grown trees like bald cypress and water tupelo at this and other sites that restore the natural barrier of wetlands into the protective forest it once was. The goal is for the roots of these native trees to hold the earth around New Orleans in place as it slips further below sea level, create habitat for wildlife and help shield the city from storms.

Much of that natural barrier was lost after Hurricane Katrina, which killed over 1,000 people and caused over $100 billion in damage in 2005. But many have been working since then to restore the land, and near the end of a long effort run by local environmental groups, organizers are reflecting on the roots they’ve helped put down — a more solid ecosystem, so different from the degraded marsh they started with."

Melina Walling reports for the Associated Press February 13, 2026. [2]