Environment

It’s downtime for tourism in Louisiana. Tourism officials in the Atchafalaya Basin are taking advantage of the hot summer break to prepare for another busy season.

Since the launch of the popular reality show, Swamp People, in 2010, visits to the area are way up.

Executive Director of the Atchafalaya Basin Heritage Program, Deb Credeur, says they’ve seen a 15 percent jump in the number of people stopping by the visitor center.

She talked with WRKF’s Tegan Wendland about the draw of Louisiana’s swamps and bayous.

Earlier this week Governor Bobby Jindal signed a bill into law that creates a "Save the Honeybee" license plate.

But why are honeybees so important?

For that answer WRKF's Ashley Westerman turned to Dr. Tom Rinderer, the researcher leader at the USDA Honey Bee Lab here in Baton Rouge. That lab will benefit from the proceeds from license plate.

"Honeybees are absolutely vital to American agriculture, they pollinate in excess of $20-billion worth of crops a year," said Rinderer.

One scientist with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality says the key to improving our watersheds is educating our farmers. A new partnership between the LDEQ and the state and federal departments of agriculture aims to do just that.

WRKF's Tegan Wendland had a conversation with Jan Boydston, Senior Environmental Scientist at the LDEQ, about the new initiative, which focuses on educating and training farmers in Acadia, Lafayette, Vermilion, Catahoula and Tangipahoa parishes.

This week the state legislature unanimously approved the 2012 Louisiana Coastal Master Plan, a 50 year blueprint for restoring disappearing wetlands and protecting the state's natural resources.

Coastal land loss is an ongoing problem in gulf states and there are many agencies, non-profits and universities working to solve it. An independent research institute hopes to be the linchpin that brings them all together. The Water Institute of the Gulf was founded last year and has just selected UL-Lafayette civil engineering professor Ehab Meselhe as the new director of natural systems. He's also heading up a five-year, $25 million federally funded project studying land loss and restoration.

WRKF's Tegan Wendland talked with him about how he hopes the Water Institute will streamline efforts to save the gulf.