New Orleans East Wetlands

Recently we took a trip down to Highway 90 in New Orleans East.

click photo's for full size versions



I drive some of Highway 90 going to and from work at the spaceship factory. Every day I notice how much damage the wetlands have suffered since Katrina. And the trees. Katrina killed thousands and thousands of trees .

For miles going east, away from New Orleans, this is the sight







This part of the swamps faces Lake Borgne, a lagoon in eastern Louisiana of the Gulf of Mexico. Due to coastal erosion, it is no longer actually a lake but rather an arm of the Gulf of Mexico. Its name comes from the French word borgne, which means "one-eyed".



Before Katrina, the trees in the photos above hid all of the wetlands you see past the dead trees. A good number of these trees were killed by saltwater intrusion created by Katrina's huge storm surge.

While we were snapping photos along Highway 90 near Powers Junction, when we discovered that a leg of Bayou Sauvage Wildlife Refuge was open once again to the public.



Different from the Refuge Boardwalk a mile or so up the road , the Madere has a boatlaunch and a short boardwalk that transports you from the traffic noise from Highway 90 into what seems like the heart of a bayou.





There are so many channels that you can canoe out to to do some serious wildlife watching.











For more info on Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge Click here

Good Commuter News

The Chef Pass bridge has been closed since Hurricane Katrina undermined the banks that supported the bridge.




This is probably little news to denizens of New Orleans. But for us northshore commuters, it's a wonderful thing. The morning and evening commutes over the east side of the lake can be a nightmare some days. Post Katrina it's a little worse because of the lowered speed limits on the twin spans.



All it takes is one crazed commuter to drive carelessly and cause an accident, which could gum up the flow of traffic for hours. If this happens after this Friday, at least Highway 90 is available as an alternative. Before last August, Highway 90 was an easy, interesting way to traverse Lake Pontchartrain. I haven't seen it since last year, but I believe it is a whole lot different now. I cross the lake via Highway 11 and have seen very few lights in the area of Highway 90 since Katrina. We shall have to see.

My thanks to the State Department of Transportation and Boh Brothers.


A careful inventory of all your past experiences may disclose the startling fact that everything has happened for the best.

Author Unknown

Highway 90

Hubby & I took our monthly tour down Highway 90 to assess its progress in recovering from Katrina.

In the small neighborhood of Venetian Isles there's a building boom, but you wouldn't know it by this section.
Venetian Isles Fire Department is still working without a building.

September 2007

September 2006

Katrina Cottage

There's a lot that appears to be used by FEMA as a storage place for used FEMA trailers. We spotted this Katrina Cottage sitting there. Seems like this will be the replacement for those problem-plagued FEMA travel trailers used by thousands of Katrina victims.

About a mile away from the FEMA site is a boardwalk for viewing a small section of Bayou Sauvage, a national wildlife refuge that runs parallel to Highway 90.


We hadn't stopped here for quite a while so we decided to check it out.

We found this "shrine" dedicated to someone nicknamed "Zeke the Alligator Savage". Very interesting.
It's heartening to see nature coming back. While this area was laid flat by the storm, you can see the progress it's making in these two shots


September 2007

March 2006
Over in Lake Catherine the rebuilding progress is finally in full swing. Camps and homes are being rebuilt using updated materials and processes.

This camp has a steel structure

This "camp" is about three times the size of my house!!!

Here the remnants of someone's home


At Chef Pass we saw this big old shrimp boat

The new Rigolets bridge is progressing nicely

Update on Highway 90 Sculptures

A while back I ran a post about the "recycling" if - you will - of the live oak trees that became victims of Katrina. Instead of tearing them down, local chainsaw artists have created beautiful sculptures from them.

Crafting Art from Destruction. Here's an update from the Sunherald dot com

BILOXI — The idea of creating art from trees destroyed by Hurricane Katrina grew and spread in two years, from the Biloxi Bay Bridge all the way to Waveland, and now there are more than three dozen wood carvings along the beach.



They’ve become one of the top tourist attractions on the Coast and a symbol of the comeback of South Mississippi. The drive along U.S. 90 to see all of them takes locals and visitors over the new bridges, along the water and past homes that were rebuilt and waterfront lots still empty.



Some new sculptures are in progress and more are in the works. Marlin Miller of Fort Walton Beach, Florida spent much of the past year donating his time to carve the tree trunks. This weekend he is carving the final feathers on an eagle at the Pass Christian War Memorial Park.

On March 28 the eagle will be dedicated in honor of the late Colonel Lawrence Roberts, father of “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts, and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen, the country’s first black military air corps.

A little to the east on U.S. 90, the eagles Miller carved soar with 17-foot wingspans near the entrance of the University of Southern Mississippi, whose mascot is the golden eagle. Miller said the university received so much positive feedback he was contacted by President Martha Saunders about doing a project for the main campus in Hattiesburg.

Also working on new carvings is Dayle Lewis, a professional chain-saw artist from Richmond, Ind. He gave an old oak tree wings when he carved a pair of angels into a tree near the beach in Bay St. Louis.



“It became the Guardian Angel Tree,” said Lewis.
The story goes that 100 years ago a member of the DeMontluzin family kept the tree from being cut when the road was built, said Douglas Niolet.

“I guess she saved it for us,” Niolet said, because he and two others found their way to the oak and hung onto it for more than three hours during Hurricane Katrina. The tree died after the storm and the survivors asked Lewis to carve it into the angels that watched over them.



Lewis said many people have told him how much joy and spirit the tree has brought to Bay St. Louis.

He has done quite a few carvings in people’s yards and created angels for their homes. He’s also donated his time and talent to help groups. The first year he worked in New Orleans and the second year raised money for a fire station in Kiln. This year he’s carving alligators, pelicans and herons to raise money for the Amish group CARE, so they can continue to rebuild homes on the Coast.


This is a map of the wood sculptures along the Coast, spanning more than 30 miles from Waveland to Biloxi. Zoom in and use your mouse to pan the image. Click on the green pins to see photos of the three dozen sculptures along the route.

View Larger Map

Miller started with a dolphin, birds and a sea horse in December 2007 and became more adventurous as he worked. In his latest piece in Biloxi, he carved a multi-layer sculpture with shadows among the osprey and he gave Waveland a carving where there wasn’t a tree.

As about 1,000 volunteers spruced up Waveland for the national kickoff of Keep America Beautiful on March 3, Miller worked on a sculpture at the intersection of U.S. 90 and Mississippi 603. A dead tree was moved to the site and cemented into place. With his chain saws, Miller worked several days on the carving — and past 10 p.m. on a cold, windy Sunday night. “People thought I was crazy,” he said, until they saw the three dolphins and a large turtle emerging from the dead tree.
“There’s no other carving like it,” he said.



The city is proud to have one of Miller’s sculptures, said Joy Norman, Waveland spokeswoman. ”It’s beautiful.”

Visitors enjoy the new attractions, as well.

“I think the carvings are awesome,” said Darlene Sauve of Rapid River, Mich., a snowbird staying in Biloxi for the winter. She was one of several people snapping photos of the carvings in Biloxi last week while a crew sprayed the sea-life sculptures with sealant to protect them.

Brian Thacker with Biloxi Public Works said the sealant, applied once a year, fights moisture, bugs and salt spray and even has a UV protectant so the carvings will survive the beachfront elements.

“We’ve got a new landmark,” said Biloxi Public Affairs Manager Vincent Creel, who has documented the carvings on the city’s Web site. The first sculptures were done by Sandersville, Miss., chain-saw artist Dayton Scoggins; Miller carved 16 of the 21 tree sculptures in Biloxi.

Miller said he’d like to carve sculptures at the welcome centers at the west and east entrances of the state so people traveling on Interstate 10 will be inspired to drive down to the beach to see the rest, and help local businesses.

here's a link to a
gallery of incredible tree carvings along Highway 90 on the Mississippi Gulf coast by chainsaw artists Dayton Scoggins of Sandersville, Mississippi
and Marlin Miller of Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

Springtime is close

Something in the air feels like spring is just about here. As always for this part of the country, it's not because of the calendar. I think it has more to do with the weather fluctuations of the last month or so. Earlier this week we were in the mid 20's here on the northshore. Today's high was in the mid 70's.

The animals hint of the change in seasons, too. As I was leaving work about 4 yesterday afternoon, I noticed about a dozen hawks soaring around the tall building at the spaceship factory.
click on pictures for full-size versions



Wondering what kind of wildlife would bring the hawks to this 832 acres of mostly asphalt and buildings, I grabbed my camera and started clicking. It wasn't till I got home and downloaded the pictures that I noticed poor pigeons sitting near the top of the building.



Dem hawks were hungry!!

Hoping to get more shots of these beautiful predators, I took Highway 90 East to get back home. No dice. Seems like all those hawks were busy dining on squab.

But I did see some interesting shots along the way. I really hadn't been out in this neck of the woods in quite a while so I was curious to witness what progress had been taking place.



Venetian Isles was slammed by Katrina. On the 1,285th day since Katrina (thanks for counting, Maitri) building is still happening in this outpost of the Big Easy

It seems as if the newer homes are bigger and stronger than the Pre-K domiciles.



Unfortunately, the Venetian Isles Fire Department is STILL operating out of a mobile home. Maybe Venetian Isle rep Joseph Cao can finally do something about this atrocity.





Across the Chef Pass bridge is the fishing village of Lake St. Catherine, which was virtually wiped out from Katrina due to its geography.






It's taken almost four years, but homes are starting to really spring up out here. The first few miles is still pretty much barren of homes, but this is where I spotted trees full of happily squawking red wing blackbirds.



Right next to the tree of birds was this shot of an old fishing net wrapped around a tree. Not sure if it's from Katrina, Gustav or Ike.



Further down the road I passed the church where Father Red(Arthur Ginart) spent his last hours guarding his church.


notice the marsh grass from Gustav/Ike still on the church's steps

Late on the night before Katrina, a volunteer firefighter went down to the St Nicholas of Myra church to convince him to leave, but he wouldn't. "God will be my shepherd," he said.

In the corner of Highway 90 where Jayne Mansfield was killed I spotted this little guy sunning himself. Such a cutie.



Here's a sampling of the houses I saw along this route. I want to take more when the traffic allows.











More to come.....................................................