It took less than three days.

I arrived late Tuesday. My first day of work isn't till next Tuesday, and yet, I found myself at a NRCS field office yesterday in Luling, enjoying a meeting with the First People's Conservation Committee. This includes area tribal leaders, some current and retired NRCS employees, and Kris and Dick, the pastors from First Presbyterian Church of Bayou Blue who are launching the Wetlands Theological Education Project. I'm here in New Orleans for a year to support all of these things (and more)!

It's kind of surreal being here this week, the eighth anniversary of Katrina's devastating landfall. The hurricane definitely changed the story around here, and is just part of nearly every conversation, even in a very subtle way. While Sandy was nowhere near as devastating as Katrina, I feel some small connection to this place through that experience, mostly in thinking about environments and how the landscape contributed to the failures along the east coast and the gulf coast. I'm working primarily with wetlands, which are absolutely critical to environmental stability-- a haven for biodiversity, a crucial wildlife habitat, a sort of sponge in times of deluge... also, they're beautiful. Just stunning.

I'll save the gigantic lessons on wetlands ecology and local environmental problems for another day. I learned at the meeting about the constant loss of homeland, heritage and livelihoods down bayou from New Orleans. It's very sad, but there are a lot of really great people involved in trying to stop, and hopefully reverse, these losses. There is so much great work being done. Just a few of the things we talked about--

• working on size regulations for soft shell crab farming
• prescribed burning programs in the wetlands (to encourage regrowth)
• native plantings, including the Sand Live Oak, a tree that hardly grows in that area anymore
• water quality protection without sacrificing storm surge protection
• mapping projects to show land ownership and land changes

They called me a "technical person" on this team. It's so exciting that my education and interests mean something to this project. I am so excited to get to work on Tuesday.

The only trouble with working "down bayou" is that a lot more people speak French and Creole, which I do not have any sort of foundation for. I've decided my goal is to learn enough French to be able to start spelling things correctly, and to be able to read signs without feeling like I'm embarrassing myself. In the meeting today, French snuck in and out of the conversation. While I'm nervous about totally lacking these skills, it's really cool to see the unique culture of this place.

I wanted to share Dick's blessing over our lunch--
"Remind us that life is a gift, and a responsibility, and that it can be a joy. Amen."