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Girl Scouts to replant Camp Covington damaged during Hurricane Katrina

Alabama author & TV producer to present program as part of Arbor Day activities

January 2008

On February 16 Girl Scouts from across southeast Louisiana will begin a re-forestry project at their beloved Camp Covington, closed since Hurricane Katrina caused extensive damage to its trees and buildings. Following the planting of 4,000 longleaf pine seedlings, the young planting crews made up of middle to senior high girls, will hear a presentation on the significance of the longleaf pine ecosystem by three Alabama experts, currently in Louisiana as part of a longleaf awareness tour.

Presenters include Roger Reid, producer of "Discovering Alabama," a long-running program on Alabama Public Television and author of a new young adult novel called Longleaf; Randy Mecredy, director of the Alabama Museum of Natural History; and Mark Hainds, research coordinator for an Alabama-based conservation organization called the Longleaf Alliance.  Last fall the three traveled as a group to some two dozen schools in Alabama, with the goal of raising awareness about the history and environmental significance of the longleaf pine ecosystem and are presently in Louisiana for a similar tour, with the first stop being the 23-acre Girl Scout Camp Covington.

“Our girls have been eager to help replant Camp Covington,” said Allison Pastor, vice president of program and camp properties at the Girl Scout Council of Southeast Louisiana. “Each year we hold an Arbor Day planting at Camp Whispering Pines (CWP), our camp in Independence, but this year in addition to CWP we’re beginning to replant many of the trees we lost at Camp Covington during Katrina.  We’re very excited about the presentation because it’s important for the girls to understand why their efforts are so important to both their camp and the eco-system.”      

The Southeast Louisiana council owns two camps; its 600-acre Camp Whispering Pines located in Independence, LA is recognized nationally as a “Stewardship Forest.” The camp is now in its 14th year of a forest management plan designed to restore the forest to its original, natural condition. Developed by a number of biologists, foresters, college professors, and ecologists working in concert with the Girl Scouts, the plan relies on involving girls in the science of the camp’s management. An annual Arbor Day and many other service opportunities are just a few of the activities that engage the girls as woodland stewards.  

For more information about the Girl Scout Arbor Day activities at either Camp Covington or Camp Whispering Pines, call the Council office at (504) 733-8220 or (800) 644-7571.

Media contact: Marianne Addy, VP of Communications
(504) 733-8220, ext. 226 or maddy@girlscoutssela.org

 

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