08/11/2017
On March 28, 1699, Canadian explorer Pierre Le Moyne Sieur d'Iberville and four coureurs de bois in two canoes camped the night on a sandy remnant of ancient shoreline, now known as Milton's Island, just off shore present day Goose Point. Milton's Island is now submerged beneath the brackish waters of Lake Pontchartrain and the shore has receded several hundred feet, eroded by the encroaching lake waters. In his journal he officially reported to King Louis IV of France about the immense cypress forests that lined the north shore about three leagues from the shore.
In 1775, American naturalist, William Bartram in his travels from the Pearl River to the Mississippi, also noted the thick stands of cypress in the area of Lacombe and Mandeville. Today, they are all gone; clear cut during and after Reconstruction by Northern timber interests who paid occupying Union forces 25 cents an acre for this living resource.
Now, a modern day hero is intent upon Restoring the Northshore. Ta daa! Enter Mike Cambe. Unassuming but determined, Mike is Project Manager for our Adopt-A-Spot Cypress Tree Planting Project.
You can help. So don your cape and grab your shovel, or, if you can't dig in the dirt, dig in your wallets. We need Doers and Donors.
Mike needs you to help him plant 15,000 cypress seedlings this Fall into next Spring. Join our One Hundred Club. For $50 bucks you can donate 100 tax deductible seedlings to one of our five 9/11 Living Cypress Grove Memorials. Contact Mike at [email protected] or call 985-687-9088 for info on how you can help Restore the Northshore.
