Friends of City Park
READ MORE ABOUT:
After our call for outdoors-related non-profit entries, a whittling down of five worthy projects (thanks to judge panelists like our very own Graham Hill), and a long window of public voting—where many of you cast your favorite ballot—it’s now that long awaited time. That ultimate moment to see which lucky nature-lovin’ non-profit walked away with the Redwook Creek-winning title and $50,000 grant to put towards their proposed green project. Drum roll please…
New Orleans-based Friends of City Park
Founded in 1979, the non-profit organization has been working to grow, beautify and preserve New Orleans’ famed City Park—one of the largest (1,300 acres) and oldest urban parks in the country. The green space is home to tons of beautiful and fun attractions including a Botanical Garden, fairytale-inspired playground, and sports facilities, just to name a few. But the park is also home to the famed Couterie Forest which has the world’s largest collection of mature live oaks—some even as old as 800.
You can imagine then how city residents must have felt when this piece of their city’s charm got washed away in Huricane Katrina. And that’s precisely how Friends of City Park got the public’s overwhelming voting support.
Beginning is November of this year, with a completion date set for December 2010, the non-profit plans to use the grant money to restore Couterie Forest including the 95 percent of the forest’s trees that were killed off by floodwaters—and the destroyed habitats of alligators, box turtles and over 100 species of migratory and resident birds.
All-in-all preserving 62 acres of land including eight native ecosystems.
Here at Planet Green, we’re all incredibly excited for the grant to have been awarded to such a noble and much-needed cause.
Congratulations, Friends of City Park!
(All five finalists, however, deserve honorable mentions and we too wish them the best in their eco-project endeavors.)
For more information about The Greater Outdoors Project, click over to RedwoodCreek.com. To learn more about Friends of City Park click here.
More on New Orleans:
Renovation Nation: New Orleans Renovation
Rebuilding a Green Big Easy
Emeril's New Orleans-Style Barbecue Shrimp
Got a tip or a post idea for us to write about on Planet Green? Email pgtips (at) treehugger (dot) com.
-
- {}
