B.R. firm to grow native plants for coastal reforestation efforts

Under an agreement announced this morning, Ecological Restoration Services—a subsidiary of Baton Rouge-based Resource Environmental Solutions—will grow and supply native plants and trees for the Restore the Earth Foundation, an Ithaca, N.Y.-based nonprofit. The foundation is working on coastal restoration and reforestation in Louisiana, and the plants RES grows at its 640-acre nursery in Point-aux-Chenes will be used in those efforts beginning this fall. Since 2010, RES has been supplying the foundation with native plants for another Louisiana initiative called Gulf Saver Bag, which aims to restore damaged and degraded coastal wetlands. Financial terms of the agreement announced today were not disclosed. To date, Restore the Earth Foundation says it has reforested over 30,000 acres with 1.6 million native trees along the Gulf Coast, aided by the USDA Farm Service Agency and Louisiana Natural Resource Conversation Service with matching funds from federal, corporate and private sources. “The collaboration with REF directly supports both healthy coastal ecosystems and a sustainable quality of life for Louisiana’s coastal residents,” says Elliott Bouillion, CEO of RES.