BTNEP hosts 25 to 30 volunteer events a year in communication with BTNEP’s Native Plant Program.
The Volunteer Program plugs volunteers into the Native Plant Program that implements restoration of our coast through native vegetative plantings of our barrier islands, salt and fresh marshes, lakes, bayous, and ridges. Critically imperiled habitats and species are protected while volunteers from across the nation are educated about the area’s problems and needs. Many of the groups come for a week or sometimes more. Many have been housed and chaperoned by our partners at Bayou Grace Community Services in Chauvin, Louisiana. Typically, volunteers are college, high school or religious groups that work with BTNEP for two to four days of their weeklong service. During their time with us, they often spend a day in Cocodrie at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) receiving in depth academic education about the estuary and the organisms inhabiting it. The other days BTNEP staff takes volunteers in the field somewhere within our estuaries to do on-the-ground restoration and to receive hands-on education.
