I’m in New Orleans this week at a conference with more than 200 colleagues from across the Central U.S.  It’s been inspiring to hang out  and learn from them.  Early in the week, I got to go on a field trip to a couple of natural areas just north of New Orleans.  Here are a couple photos from that trip.

Slash pine at The Nature Conservancy’s Abita Creek Flatwoods Preserve north of New Orleans, Louisiana.

We visited a couple sites where the Conservancy is working to restore longleaf pine savanna and similar natural communities.  These photos are from a site that includes plants such as cypress, pitcher plants and myriad other species I don’t get to see at home.  In fact, it was both fascinating and a little humbling to see all the plants that I couldn’t identify.  For quite a few of them, I didn’t even recognize the genus, let alone the species!  That said, many of the restoration techniques are very similar to those we use in Nebraska, so there was a lot we could learn from each other.

The Conservancy’s Nelwyn McInnis leads a tour group through the site.  The savannas we hiked through were essentially prairies with trees, which are beautiful but I had to keep reminding myself that it was ok to have trees in a prairie…

Many thanks to the staff of The Nature Conservancy in Louisiana for hosting us this week.  I look forward to visiting again.