Lawyers and pilots for the Atchafalaya Basin

The Tulane Environmental Law Clinic and the volunteer pilots’ organization SouthWings received accolades for their work protecting Louisiana’s wetlands and the Atchafalaya Basin during Atchafalaya Basinkeeper’s annual meeting last month.

The Tulane Environmental Law Clinic received the second-ever “Super Swamper Award” from Atchafalaya Basinkeeper (ABK), Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN), and the Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association-West (LCPA-West).

The plaque, accepted byAdam Babich and Geri Davis, is engraved with the following: “To the attorneys and students of the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic with tremendous gratitude for putting up a herculean fight to save what is left of Louisiana’s wetlands and the Atchafalaya Basin. You are Super Swampers and you are our heroes.”

The Tulane Environmental Law Clinic has provided years of pro-bono legal assistance, representing ABK, LCPA-West, and LEAN in their fight for the health of Louisiana’s wetlands and its people.

The Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association-West, LEAN, and Atchafalaya Basinkeeper regularly collaborate to stop illegal wetland development and to protect the public’s right to use navigable waters of the U.S.

SouthWings received the “Atchafalaya Angel Award,” on which was etched: “With eternal gratitude to SouthWings and all the volunteer pilots that are flying to protect Louisiana’s wetlands, the Mississippi River and the Atchafalaya Basin. You are our heroes and you are God’s Angels.”

Atchafalaya Basinkeeper and Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper (LMRK) presented the award to SouthWings and its volunteer pilots who have provided hundreds of monitoring flights, free-of-charge, to LMRK and ABK. These flights play a critical role in the strategy that ABK and LMRK employ to protect Louisiana’s wetlands, the Mississippi River, and the Atchafalaya Basin.

Meredith Dowling attended the meeting on behalf of SouthWings.

Fifty-five people attended the annual meeting on Sunday. Participants included St. Martin Parish President Guy Cormier, Henderson Mayor Sherbin Colette, LCPA-West Board president Mike Bienvenu and other board members, author-photographer and ABK board member Greg Guirard, and Sissy Irwin representing Iberville Parish President Mitchell Ourso. A number of Atchafalaya fishing families were in attendance from the east and west sides of the Basin.

Atchafalaya Basinkeeper is a member organization of the Waterkeeper Alliance. Since its creation in 2004, the organization has worked to stop un-sustainable cypress logging for mulch in coastal Louisiana, has prevented new canals from being dredged in the Atchafalaya Basin, and has blocked damaging projects by agencies as well as countless instances of illegal wetland destruction.

To learn more about these organizations, visit www.basinkeeper.org, http://leanweb.org/, www.lcpa-west.com/main.html, and http://lmrk.org/.