Cat Island Knowledge Exchange Connects Teachers, Students with Louisiana’s Dynamic Watershed

The Water Connects Us All (www.laseagrant.org/education/pd/the-water-connects-us-all/) project, sponsored by the NOAA Fisheries B-WET program, brought ten Louisiana teachers to West Feliciana Parish this fall for the Cat Island Knowledge Exchange, a place-based professional learning experience focused on Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs).

Following a summer institute at the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, teachers from across Louisiana’s coastal zone gathered at West Feliciana Middle School and the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge. At the middle school, they joined more than 175 seventh-grade students participating in a Wetland Day, an action-packed, hands-on learning opportunity to explore their local ecosystem, a floodplain shaped by the rise and fall of the Mississippi River. The day’s activities were led by community partners including Louisiana Sea Grant, LSU AgCenter 4-H and Youth Wetlands Program, the Friends of Cat Island and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, along with high school Youth Wetland Ambassadors and members of the West Feliciana High School LifeSmarts Club who recently joined the NOAA Ocean Guardian Program (https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/education/ocean_guardian/).

In an ongoing effort to preserve the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, which is impacted by seasonal flooding and more recently by a tornado which left a line of destruction, the exchange concluded with stewardship project. Teachers planted 65 cypress saplings at the Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge and explored a nearly 1,500-year-old bald cypress tree, the oldest of its kind in the U.S. The tree planting was made possible with the support of the Friends of Cat Island and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Project partner and Friends of Cat Island president, William Daniel said, “It was such a pleasure to have educators from around the state at the refuge helping to restore this unique habit and we hope they will take these experiences back to their classrooms or even better, bring their students out to visit the refuge.”

With support from Louisiana Sea Grant and Louisiana State University, teachers will continue to work within their own schools and communities to design and implement MWEE-based projects with their students to address real-world watershed challenges through fieldwork, reflection and local environmental action.

For more information about the Water Connects Us All Project, contact Ali McMillan, education coordinator at Louisiana Sea Grant (aholl68@lsu.edu).