The Louisiana Gulf Response Involvement Team is currently engaged in various volunteer projects:

Pre-landfall Clean-Ups

Natural and unnatural debris litters the Louisiana coastline.  Any natural or unnatural debris that is in the potential impact zone could become oiled thereby deeming it a hazardous material.  The increased quantity of hazardous material not only impacts the clean-up time and costs, but also increases the oil spill impact on our landfills.  Volunteers are deployed to pick up, bag and properly dispose of unnatural debris and remove large natural debris from the tidal zone prior to oiling. View our previous projects. 

Wetland Restoration Plantings

The oil spill disaster has impacted large areas of Louisiana’s fragile wetlands.  Volunteers are engaged in planting native vegetation in vulnerable project areas to bolster wetland health and productivity.  Although we will not be working in oiled areas, the marsh restoration projects will assist in the overall recovery of the region by increasing the wetland habitat for wildlife and fisheries, reducing erosion, increasing species diversity and providing a seed source for natural regeneration.  View our previous projects.

Shoreline Protection with Gulf Saver Bags

GRIT is working with the Gulf Saver Solutions Initiative to deploy Gulf Saver Bags along the fragile shorelines in coastal Louisiana.  The Gulf Saver Bag is a biodegradable bag filled with natural humus (organic matter with nutrients and microbes) that provides a base for vegetation to grow.  Vegetation is planted directly into the Gulf Saver Bags.  The bags degrade over a 3-4 month period but in that time, allow the plant roots to become established into the soil, therefore increasing the shoreline stability. 

Coastal Forest Restoration

Coastal forests, such as swamps and chenier forests, are not under direct threat by the oil spill at this time, but are a critical component of our coastal ecosystem and provide valuable habitat for wildlife.  Coastal forests are important to the overall sustainability of the coastal landscape and they protect communities from other threats, such as hurricanes and storm surge.  GRIT will be planting cypress trees and other coastal forest species in the winter months, which increases their survivability.   

Project Preparation

The volunteer program and individual projects require significant preparation work to ensure a successful event.  These activities include communications, office work, preparing lunches, site preparation, etc.  The GRIT partnership engages volunteers to support these preparation activities allowing volunteers who cannot physically participate in restoration plantings an outlet to support our work. 

Expertise and Resources

For each of the on-the-ground volunteer activities, additional expertise and resources are always valuable.  Expertise could be in natural resources, plant vegetation, equipment operators, database and volunteer management, monitoring, or other expert fields.  Resources that are commonly useful include boats, boat drivers, life vests, ATVs, trailers, housing, etc.  Not all expertise and resources will be needed on every project.