Portions of Hurricane Katrina-ravaged coastline can be mend in an eco-friendly way ‘ making use of the old Christmas trees and boards from piers destroyed by the storm, according to officials who are recycling materials for studying erosion and pollution control.
Workers there waded knee-deep in Weeks Bay in a bid to repair and extend a brush fence that will be protecting part of the shoreline at Camp Beckwith. Behind this barrier, workers will transplant and monitor the sea grasses for studying ‘
How the plants keep pollutants from the water.
This is said by Jennifer Burns Dixon, director of Coastal Wonders — Camp Beckwith’s environmental program.
Jennifer said,
It’s an environmental education project as well as just to protect the beach. It’s an educational opportunity as well as erosion prevention or erosion control.
The natural material ‘ the old Christmas trees — will be used to block some of the wave energy, hence protecting the beach, allowing grasses to grow along the shoreline at the same time.
According to Julie Batchelor, natural resource planner with the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Department,
People brought the trees to us rather than throwing them away and now we’ll be able to put them to a good use.
This environment-friendly project is Baldwin County environmental officials, the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Weeks Bay Estuarine Reserve, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Boy Scouts and Camp Beckwith’s joint effors.