At Archbishop Chapelle High School in Metairie, a chain-link,
10-by-10-foot pen resembling a kennel sits outside the
cafeteria. Built by classes of juniors and seniors, under the
guidance of their environmental science teacher, Joann Haydel,
the pen is the start of the school's first wetlands nursery with
Louisiana State University's Coastal Roots program. Directed by
LSU's College of Education, the program has reached out to south
Louisiana primary and high schools to grow wetlands plants as a
way to help restore the coast and to integrate hands-on
awareness of coastal erosion into science education, said LSU's
Pam Blanchard. Since its debut in 2000, Coastal Roots has
spawned wetlands nurseries at 35 schools in 15 parishes
statewide, most of them coastal parishes, and has contributed
more than 21,000 plants to the wetlands. "We learn about the
geology, the life science of the area, and what we're doing to
protect and save our wetlands, " Haydel said. "We talk a lot
about coastal stewardship, and the program