The Louisiana Board of Regents recently approved $28 million for university research to spur hurricane recovery and economic development, including a $915,000 grant to the LSU AgCenter for wetland restoration.
“The LSU AgCenter has been involved in wetland restoration research for nearly 10 years,” said David Boethel, vice chancellor for research and director of the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment Station. “This money will be used primarily for infrastructure to support the research.”
The main emphasis of the AgCenter research is to use plant breeding expertise, gained from decades of research on agricultural crops, to develop plants and improve coastal habitats with the goals of restoration and reclamation.
The lead scientists for wetland restoration research are Michael D. Materne and Stephen A. Harrison, both in the School of Plant, Environmental & Soil Sciences.
The LSU AgCenter was one of eight institutions of higher education in the state to receive money through this program.
Linda Foster Benedict
(This article was published in the summer 2007 issue of Louisiana Agriculture.) |