‘225’: Turning the tide

Eighty percent of the nation’s land loss occurs in Louisiana, with the state losing an estimated 25-35 square miles each year, according to the Governor’s Office of Coastal Protection & Restoration. One hurricane takes your area’s homes and fishing camps. The next cuts down the trees and kicks four feet of sand in your garage, in your living room, in your face. Then one morning you wake up, and a leading oil and gas multinational is pumping crude at you at the rate of 4.2 million gallons a day. Then that awful morning turns into 57 awful mornings. The people of Grand Isle—a slender 17-mile strip of land, Louisiana’s only inhabited barrier island and its first line of defense against storms—ought to be forgiven if they feel they have been under attack the last several years. Paul and Libby Foret, founders of Sign Express in Baton Rouge, have owned a vacation home on Grand Isle for more than 20 years. In 2010, when the BP oil spill wrestled any immediate means of income away from the longtime fishermen and shrimpers of the island, Libby Foret took the sudden economic blow as her call to action. In memory of her late father-in-law, who spent his dying days on the island, she organized a one-day concert with six bands playing on the island’s Bridgeside Marina. She called it Uplifting the Coast. This year, June 8-10, the Baton Rouge Fairgrounds will host the first Uplifting the Coast Festival. Get the full story behind the festival and all the details in the 225 story by Editor Jeff Roedel here.