Iris Restoration Projects at

Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge

On May 9, 2019, the US Fish & Wildlife Service sponsored a volunteer day in its continuing iris project along their Boy Scout Road trail and boardwalk in the Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. Volunteers from Ohio State University, organized by Common Ground Relief, two volunteers from the Greater New Orleans Iris Society (GNOIS) and refuge volunteers accomplished the staff's goal for the day. That goal was to remove the Louisiana iris species I. giganticaerulea from along the gravel Boy Scout Road, where they are in a threatened environment, and to relocate them where they can thrive in the marsh along the nearby boardwalk. Some were also placed along a different stretch of Boy Scout Road where there are few irises.

I. giganticaerulea is the tall blue native iris of the Gulf Coast. It ranges from southeast Texas, Louisiana and into Mississippi and is the State Wildflower of Louisiana.

The relocation project began in 2018 when 1,400 giganticaeruleas were moved from Boy Scout Road to the boardwalk. The Greater New Orleans Iris Society has endorsed the US Fish & Wildlife Service's iris projects on the Big Branch Refuge, helped organize workdays, and offered its expertise and assistance for future projects.

On July 2, 2019, the US Fish & Wildlife Service implemented another phase of their iris relocation project. Volunteers with the Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder organization in conjunction with Common Ground Relief and two volunteers from the GNOIS rescued a large number of giganticaeruleas from the gravel road shoulder along Lake Road in preparation for the road to be raised by St. Tammany Parish. The irises will likely be destroyed by the construction equipment when work begins to raise the road. The plan for the July 2nd volunteer day was to dig up any irises that are threatened and to replant them into a dry fish pond that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has made available at their fish hatchery in nearby Lacombe, LA. The irises would then be available for replanting in other areas of the refuge in the fall and winter.