Arranged, optional pre-meeting field trips and associated activities on Sunday, July 27, 2008.
The 2008 PSA Annual Meeting will begin on Sunday, July 27 with the evening social. For those who arrive early, we have arranged three optional paid activities.
1. Dr Wagner's Honey Island Swamp Tours. $40. Maximum capacity 45. Before there was ecotourism there were Dr. Wagner's Honey Island Swamp tours (http://www.honeyislandswamp.com/). The Honey Island Swamp is one of the most pristine remaining cypress swamps left in the Gulf South. This swamp is located on the Pearl River, the river that forms the border between extreme southern Mississippi and Louisiana, about an hour east of New Orleans. Dr. Wagner has a Ph.D. in wetland ecology from LSU but decided these tours were his calling and started the first swamp tour in the area in 1982, even designing the boat that they use. A conservation-minded group runs this tour and Dr. Wagner is the unpaid overseer for the Nature Conservancy property in the area. Pick up time will be at 7:30AM on Sunday, July 27th, the tour will start at 9 AM and will last about 2 hours. Breakfast will not be provided. So, grab something to eat before departing. If you are staying at the Best Western St. Charles Inn or Hampton Inn meet in front of the Hampton Inn at 3626 St. Charles Ave. Please note that the Best Western St. Charles at 3636 St. Charles Ave is nearly next door to the Hampton Inn. If you are staying in the Loyola residence hall, pick up will be on St. Charles Ave. in front of horseshoe-shaped driveway on the Loyola campus (6363 St. Charles Ave.).
2. Pass Manchac Tour. $25. Maximum capacity 25. The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Estuary is the second largest estuary in North America. Lake Pontchartrain proper is about 35 miles wide, east to west; and 25 miles across, north to south. Pass Manchac is a broad body of water about 7 miles long connecting the western edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the eastern portion of Lake Maurepas. Southeastern Louisiana University has a small field station accessible only by boat on the pass, about 5 miles east of the access site on the Galva Canal along I-55. Jim Wee, the local organizer for the 2008 PSA meeting, has sampled extensively in the area using boats provided by SLU and the Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station (http://www3.selu.edu/turtlecove/) and has arranged this field trip. Dr. Gary Shafer, a wetland ecologist at SLU working extensively in the area and Dr. Robert Moreau, the Turtle Cove station manager will lead the trip. The open waters of Pass Manchac, Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas as well as associated marshes and cypress swamps dominate the area. The natural flow of water in the bayous and passes often is interrupted by man-made canals. Salinities in the area are low, ranging from freshwater to ca. 2-3 ppt with somewhat higher salinities in the drier months. Many of the cypress trees in the area died in the 1998-2000 drought when the salinity levels increased beyond their tolerance levels. Salt-water intrusion continues to be a problem for the natural communities in the area. We will visit Pass Manchac, the immediately adjacent regions of Lake Maurepas and Lake Pontchartrain as well as the adjoining bayous and canals. Plankton nets and a few sample bottles will be available for those who are interested. Drs. Shafer and Moreau will describe the natural history and associated environmental issues in the area. If the damage from hurricane Katrina to the Turtle Cove facilities are repaired sufficiently so that they can be accessed safely we will stop there briefly. Water travel will be via a 40 ft. pontoon boat operated by Turtle Cove. Pick up time will be at 7:30AM on Sunday, July 27th. Breakfast will not be provided. So, grab something to eat before departing. If you are staying at the Best Western St. Charles Inn or Hampton Inn meet in front of the Hampton Inn at 3626 St. Charles Ave. Please note that the Best Western St. Charles at 3636 St. Charles Ave is nearly next door to the Hampton Inn. If you are staying in the Loyola residence hall, pick up will be on St. Charles Ave. in front of horseshoe-shaped driveway on the Loyola campus (6363 St. Charles Avenuue). After about an hour drive to the boat shed on the Galva Canal we will spend 2-3 hours on the water. Water and a small snack will be available on the boat. Please bring money with you for lunch after the tour as we hope to stop at Middendorf's, a well-known local restaurant located on Pass Manchac. Shrimp poor boy sandwiches run about $8 and a seafood platter is about $15.
3. New Orleans School of Cooking Private Cooking Demonstration and Lunch. Price: $27. Maximum capacity 100. Note: If you attend this activity you must provide your own transportation to the New Orleans School of Cooking. Please see below. For those who wish to use their discretionary time sampling New Orleans' food and exploring the French Quarter, the New Orleans School of Cooking a great way to start (http://www.neworleansschoolofcooking.com/). We have an arranged a private demonstration lunch class assuming at least 25 people enroll. If less than 25 people enroll for this activity we will combine our group with an open demonstration lunch. Menus are provided at the web site. Getting there. The cooking demonstration will start at 10:00 AM. The New Orleans School of Cooking (http://www.neworleansschoolofcooking.com/directions.html) is located at 524 St. Louis Street, between Chartres St. and Decatur St. in the French Quarter. However, whether you are staying at the Best Western St. Charles Inn, Hampton Inn or Loyola residence halls it is easy to find your way to a streetcar stop on St. Charles Ave where a streetcar will take you to Canal Street bordering the French Quarter. From there you can walk ca. 4-6 blocks to the New Orleans School of Cooking. If you take the street car allow plenty of time to get there, at least 40 minutes, and an hour would provide a safety net with some time to sight see along the way. I would suggest leaving by 8AM and finding a breakfast of beignets and café au lait at Café Du Monde (http://www.sallys-place.com/beverages/coffee/big_easy.htm), arriving at the cooking demonstration by 10:00.