Author: Emily Gautreaux

ULL Scientists Research Environmental Impacts of Hurricanes

A partnership of two researchers at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is working within an international team of scientists to study the ecological impacts of previous hurricanes to inform how coastal ecosystems may best prepare for and respond to future storms, according to a news release from the University.

The international research team of scientists has recently published their study, “A General Pattern of Trade-Offs Between Ecosystem Resistance and Resilience to Tropical Cyclones,” in Science Advances, an academic journal that is published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The researchers’ findings in the study have reportedly provided insight into how our coastal ecosystems might respond to future storms, to which as anyone in the Gulf Coast region can attest, are always around the corner.

The study was co-authored by UL Lafayette’s Dr. Beth Stauffer, an associate professor of Biology, and Dr. Kelly Robinson, an assistant professor of Biology. Dr. Christopher Patrick of William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science led the research team for the study, whose whole team was made up of 23 scientists from 11 states, Taiwan, and Puerto Rico. The team’s study is a part of the National Science Foundation’s Hurricane Ecosystem Response Synthesis (HERS), and Dr. Stauffer is a co-principal investigator for the research coordination network.

This collaborative research coordination network aims to bring together research on how an ecosystem’s long-term or more recent environmental history might influence its response to subsequent storms. In addition to this, the network will also collaborate on researching how species traits such as reproductive potential, dispersal mode and distance, and physiological tolerance might explain certain patterns of resistance and resilience.

In their research, the team used both pre-storm monitoring surveys and post-storm monitoring surveys to examine the resilience and resistance of coastal ecosystems across 26 different storms. The 26 total storms used for the research team’s data were selected among those that had made landfall in the Northern Hemisphere of Earth between the years 1985 and 2018. The researchers set out to study the effects of such a wide array of storms in order to maximize the scope of their data.

When speaking on the widening of the research’s scope in the study, UL Lafayette’s Dr. Beth Stauffer said, “most hurricane-related research is done on a single-storm, single-system basis. So studies like this one are especially powerful in bringing together the results from that diverse research and finding more general rules for how ecosystems respond to hurricanes.”

In working on their study, researchers were able to document post-storm changes related to the distribution and abundance of living things such as oysters, fishes, mangrove plants, and microbes. Outside of these living things, researchers also documented the observed changes made to various ecosystems’ biochemistry such as salinity levels, nitrogen levels, and hydrography such as depth and shoreline position.

Additionally, the researchers were able to analyze, document, and gauge storm characteristics and impacts based on critical factors like maximum wind speed and rainfall rate. They were also able to consider four types of ecosystems in total: freshwater, saltwater, terrestrial, and wetland ecosystems.

In speaking on the benefits of analyzing multiple ecosystems, ULL’s Dr. Kelly Robinson said, “cross-ecosystem analyses help us understand the resilience and vulnerability of animals and plants that ultimately support recreational and commercial activities along our coasts. This study provides an important reference point against which we can measure the impacts on coastal ecosystems from future hurricanes, which are predicted to strengthen as oceans warm due to climate change.”

When it comes to understanding hurricanes in an effort to not only anticipate their arrival but to prepare on how to respond to them after they pass, the regional expertise of two researchers from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette cannot be underestimated nor undervalued.

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Favorite Spring Travel Ideas

It’s never too early to begin planning your late spring travel; doing doesn’t just give you an exciting experience to look forward to as you make your way through the months of March and April, but planning out a May trip ahead of time allows for you to receive the most benefits possible. These benefits might come in the form of affordable pricing, luxurious accommodations, many sought-after reservations, or even once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Supply yourself with this helpful article from Travel + Leisure for a dozen destinations you should consider traveling to this May and subsequently jumpstart your vacation today!

New River Gorge National Park & Preserve, West Virginia

America is home to a new national park that has quite honestly taken the nation by storm. West Virginia’s New River Gorge National Park & Preserve was only just designated as the United States’s 63rd National Park in December of 2020. Though, just because this is West Virginia’s first-ever national park, locals and tourists alike can attest that thisAppalachian wonderland has always been a special place for those seeking unbelievable sights of natural life, picturesque vistas, and traces of human history.

May is the perfect time to visit this park because the temperatures are usually perfect for an extended time spent out of doors. Ideally, if you plan your trip to be held somewhere before schools let out for summer, you’ll be able to enjoy many of the national park’s trails and overlooks in private. While inside the park, you’ll be able to take in the iconic New River Gorge as you take part in the hiking trails, fishing spots, mountain climbing, and scenic driving that is offered throughout the year. Venture out to West Virginia and experience the over 70,000 acres of land alongside the unforgettable New River this May!

Greenville, South Carolina

May is often called the favorite month among travelers because this month is the time of year that often provides manageable and gorgeous weather. Both work in tandem, allowing you to see some of the most flower-spread (a must during spring travel), unforgettable destinations in the Southern United States without breaking too much of a sweat. One city that stands as the absolute pinnacle of old-school southern charm and hospitality while also being a trendsetter on the cusp of new architectural marvels is the destination of Greenville, South Carolina.

Greenville is quite well-known for its up-and-coming, bustling art scene that is vibrantly present throughout its iconic downtown district as well as the quaint Main Street stretch of the town. Visitors and residents alike often boast about the bike-friendly attitude that prevails in this town, and it’s for good reason. The parks, street art installations, sculptures, and decadent storefronts that are sprinkled throughout the town benefit from seeing them with your own eyes and not behind the windshield of a car. If you’re looking for a key time in May to make your way to Greenville, then look no further than the city’s annual Mother’s Day celebration weekend called Artisphere. This event is a chance for over a hundred pop-up galleries and live demonstrations from street performers, musicians, glass blowers, and chalk artists to truly show the public the impressive extent of their many artistic talents.

Outside of the two listed above, Travel + Leisure recommends the following locations that benefit from a visit for spring travel. Be sure to check out the astounding sights and unforgettable experiences of Amalfi Coast, Italy; Cashiers, North Carolina; Greater Zion, Utah; Madeira, Portugal; Oceanside, California; San Antonio, Texas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Willamette Valley, Oregon; Williamsburg, Virginia; and Yosemite National Park, California

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Pet Friendly Beaches for the Summer Ahead

When you have some time off and you want to hit the road with your family on that vacation you’ve been thinking about for months, you want to take the entire family, dog included. Oftentimes, finding a beach that allows your dog to run freely can be hard to find, but that’s just where Southern Living’s rundown of the best pet-friendly beaches in the south will save you stress allowing you to enjoy your beach trip with the whole family.

While the point of a vacation is to relax care-free, no one wants to feel that sudden pang of guilt when you imagine your pet in a boarding facility or doggy daycare while you’re out having the time of your life in crystal blue waters beneath a radiant sun. So, if you intend to bring our four-footed best friend along with you on your next beach trip, it’s proactive to do your part and research which beaches allow dogs on their sandy shores ahead of time.

Brunswick Islands, North Carolina

Standing proudly as an absolute stunning jewel of the south, North Carolina’s Brunswick Islands are often heralded for the sheer amount of experiences and pristine beaches that are located off-the-beaten path meaning that they’re less crowded and more enjoyable. The Brunswick Islands region is located in the southern corner of North Carolina, and it’s the last of the Tar Heel State’s coastal treasures before you get to South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach.

The total region of the Brunswick Islands is made up of five barrier islands that encompass richly lush maritime forests, freshly-caught local seafood, expanding saltwater marshlands, and the federally-protectedIntracoastal Waterway that connects them all.

A well-known resource for all vacationers who travel with pets is Tripswithpets.com, and this reliable authority on which destinations are the best for pet-lovers has named North Carolina’s Oak Island and Caswell Beachesspecifically among the “Top Five Dog-Friendly Beaches in North Carolina.”

Many of the coastal beaches throughout the Brunswick Islands allow (and even encourage) dogs to run across their sandy shores; this includes the popular, well-reviewed beaches of Oak Island, Freeman Park, Emerald Isle, Kitty Hawk, and Bald Head Island. Check out which of your preferred beaches in North Carolina allow for dogs at this well-researched resource and ensure that you and your family pet can enjoy the natural beauty of the Brunswick Islands on your next adventure!

Ocean City Beach, Maryland

This location has not only been named one of TripAdvisor’s top ten beaches in the country, but its three-mile boardwalk featuring amusement activities, arcades, and waterside shopping looks well-placed when you take in the jaw-dropping sights of the Atlantic Ocean behind it. At the right time of day, it becomes no wonder why this fantastically versatile beach is located alongside the appropriately named Ocean City, Maryland, especially with its offerings of surfing, fishing, kayaking, and canoeing along its shores and waters. Though, one of the highlights of this beach is that throughout the months of October-April, you’re allowed to bring your leashed companion along the boardwalk and throughout Ocean City.

The finer details indicate that all dogs must be leashed when walking in Ocean City at all times, and while leashed pets are allowed onto the Assateague National Park Beach year-round, they are not allowed on the Assateague State Park Beaches, which is an important distinction.

So, begin planning your trip out to Ocean City and the greater Assateague Island today to enjoy its unforgettable offerings of sandy, picturesque beaches, coastal bays, maritime forests, and salt marshes that will surely make you think you’re seeing the inspiration of many postcards you’ve been sent over the years.

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Double-Smashed Cheeseburger Recipe

While the method of cooking a smash burger has been around for decades ever since the act of smashing a hamburger patty firmly against a griddle to increase the crispiness of its texture was first popularized in the Midwest, the recipe for smash burgers has only been perfected ever since. This is most clearly seen in this recipe for the “Ultimate Smash Cheeseburger” from Serious Eats, in which you get twice the patty, texture, and flavor with every bite.

Cheeseburger Ingredients

Cheeseburger Recipe

  1. You’ll begin this recipe by preparing your burger bun. You’ll do this by laying your toppings of choice atop the bottom half of the bun. You’ll want this bottom bun nearby for when your burger is cooked, as the smash burgerbenefits from the freshness of the final product.
  2. Next, take a large stainless steel sauté pan or skillet and preheat it over high heat for about 2 minutes. After you’ve divided your 4 oz. of ground beef into two 2 oz. balls of beef, place the balls into the pan, and smash them down using the foolproof smash burger method of pressing the patty down with a stiff metal spatula and using a second spatula to add pressure. Smashed patties should end up slightly wider than the burger bun.
  3. After it begins to solidify beneath the spatula, season the burger generously with salt and pepper, cooking them until the patties are well-browned and the tops are just starting to turn a combination of a pale pink and gray coloration. This will take approximately 45 seconds. Then, using a bench scraper or the back-side of a stiff metal spatula, carefully scrape the patties from the pan and ensure that you get all of the browned bits.
  4. Flip your patties over, and then immediately place a slice of cheese over one patty and then stack the second on top, covering the cheese. Immediately remove this smash burger from the pan and transfer it to the burger bun that’s lying in wait nearby.
  5. Serve & enjoy!

Notes:

A properly prepared smash burger attributes its unique texture to the method in which the ground beef patty is cooked. As the name suggests, the chef smashes the beef patty firmly into an ungreased skillet or pan, which increases the points of contact between the cooking surface and the patty itself. This results in the overall texture of the burgerhaving as much “crust” or crispiness as possible while also enriching the flavor.

In order to ensure that your smash burger is the best it can be, time, attention, and care must be taken into the specific cooking instruments you are using in the smashing process. This recipe suggests utilizing the sturdiness and reliability of a stiff spatula or a bench scraper so that you can scrape up the burger from the skillet in one fluid motion, retaining the crust and beef patty integrity.

One of the criticisms often attributed to the smash cheeseburger isn’t regarding its taste or texture, but people take umbrage with its size. Sure it’s wide, but it’s often called “too thin,” but that’s just where this Serious Eats recipe comes into play. By cooking two separate 2-ounce patties per burger instead of the traditional single 4-ounce patty, you’re able to slide a piece of meltable cheese in between the two burgers; this will not only keep your meat base moist and crispy, but it will bulk up the overall burger.

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LDOE Distributes $17 Million in Teacher Support Grant Funds

In recognition of the tremendous amounts of effort towards uninterrupted learning that they’ve put forward during the coronavirus pandemic, child care providers have been approved to receive a second round of teacher support stipends and wage supplements by the Louisiana Department of Education, according to a March 17th news release.

It would be a massive understatement and misaligned judgment to not consider Louisiana’s child care providers as essential frontline service workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic. As reported by the LDOE, the pandemic has significantly impacted both the field of child care and in this case, especially child care teachers. These significant impacts continue to contribute to the ongoing issue of teacher turnover, as they join other stressors that child care teachers face.

A research study that was conducted by the University of Virginia found that over 30% of early child care educators reported difficulty in paying rent, 40% consider themselves food insecure, and over 50% report being unable to pay for medical expenses. In light of these distressing statistics, the LDOE has funded two rounds of the 2021-2022 Teacher Support Grant for open Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) child care providers.

The initial round of $10,681,600 in grant funds was distributed to over 600 open child care providers in the form of stipends and wage supplements in August of 2021, and recently, the second round of the Teacher Support Grant, amounting to $17,492,800, was distributed to over 700 open child care providers in February 2022.

Both rounds of the Teacher Support Grant have been funded and issued in direct response to an early childhood workforce report that was submitted to the Louisiana Legislature by the Louisiana Department of Education. The LDOE’s report detailed key information about the impacts, funding, and costs of early childhood care and education in the state of Louisiana.

Further detailed in the report, it was stated that approximately 35% of teachers in early childhood education leave their sites of employment or placement at some point each year, and that percentage is increased to approximately 44% in child care centers. The report also found that only one-third of the teachers observed in Louisiana’s publicly-funded early childhood classrooms are still teaching in that same location three years later, signaling distressing turnover.

The Executive Director of the Louisiana Policy Institute for Children, Dr. Libby Sonnier, commented on the issue of child care provider retention and turnover by saying, “when qualified, experienced educators are constantly leaving the field, it’s inevitable that we will see direct impacts on quality. Either a program will have a ceiling of success that it will not be able to exceed, or worse, we will start seeing a reduction in quality as programs struggle to recruit and retain strong early care and education staff.”

This high percentage of child care provider turnover was just one of the contributing factors presented to the Louisiana State Legislature, contributing to them approving the second round of funding. Another contribution comes from the report’s analysis of how a child care provider’s annual pay compares to their school-based counterparts.

Recent data from the Department of Education showed that child care teachers make approximately $20,000 annually, which is less than half of a school-based childcare provider. This salary is less than the federal poverty level for a family of three, according to 2020 statistics, and an approximate 27% of child care teachers reported that they actively work a second job in addition to providing child care.

Dr. Cynthia DiCarlo is both a professor of Early Childhood Education at Louisiana State University and the executive director of the LSU Early Childhood Education Laboratory Preschool. Dr. DiCarlo commented on the wage disparity that the LDOE’s presented report in saying, “teachers working in early care and education are still paid less than their service-industry counterparts. Until we decide as a state to pay teachers at par with other job opportunities, we will not move forward with quality early childhood care and education in Louisiana.”

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Acadiana Recently Celebrated French Language Month

Taking great pride in their heritage, an estimated 250,000 French speakers today call Louisiana their home, but according to this in-depth article detailing the importance of French Language Month from The Daily Advertiser, that number has dwindled from the over 1 million Francophones calling Louisiana their home just a couple of generations ago.

As per a Lafayette Consolidated Government release, “celebrating the French language and culture is hugely important for a state with such a rich history and connection to the French-speaking world.” This in addition to the fact that French is the fifth most widely spoken language in the world, as spoken by some 369 million people, makes it obvious that Louisiana holds on tight to its Francophone roots in light of a decrease in use.

Warren Perrin, a 75-year old attorney and founder of Erath’s Musée Acadien, is a passionate advocate for the French Language, especially its history and usage in Louisiana. Perrin both practices law and teaches museum patrons of Acadiana’s history in an effortless switching between the English and French languages in a bilingual effort and display of linguistic pride. In speaking on the diminishment of French-speaking Louisianans, Perrin said, “our language is imploding as we don’t use it enough. We’re not expanding it in Louisiana. We have a very precious commodity. We’ve got to save it.”

This alarming decrease in popularity of one of the main points of pride for Louisiana citizens is the reason why it has become increasingly more important for leaders in Acadiana and Louisiana as a whole to signify March as “Le Mois de la Francophonie,” or French Language Month. This isn’t simply an event in nomenclature, but instead, it’s an opportunity for our state to participate in an ongoing global tradition of celebrating not only the French language but also Francophone culture and the diversity of those who speak it often.

One way in which both government officials and educators in Louisiana have been able to contribute towards the effort of growing the number of Francophones (french-speaking citizens) was through the Council for Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), a state agency that was created in 1968 to supplement Louisiana’s history of suppressing of the Cajun French Language and culture.

This suppression was most commonly seen in French not being no being allowed to be spoken in the public school system or even in public places. But today, approximately 5,500 students are enrolled in French immersion programsacross the state with many of the French immersion teachers coming to Louisiana from French-speaking countries worldwide. For just the 2021-2022 school year alone, teachers came to teach in Louisiana public schools’ French and Spanish immersion programs from Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Cameroon, France, Mexico, Madagascar, Senegal, Spain, and Tunisia.

Peggy Feehan, CODOFIL Executive Director, praised these teachers’ dedication in saying, “these teachers have a remarkable impact. Thanks to their work in our schools, young Louisianans are gaining not only a second language but also learning about our state’s unique place in the world. Immersion education opens countless doors for these students and exposes them to cultures from around the world, all while shedding light on Louisiana’s own rich culture, heritage, and history.”

While the amount of Francophones in Louisiana is decreasing, the effort to celebrate the culture and language continues in the form of not just museums and French Immersion programs but most notably, the annual festivals. The Louisiana community regularly celebrates its French heritage and love of the language at the two Acadiana staples:Festivals Acadiens et Créoles and Festival International de Louisiane.

As long as these events remain and the French-speaking history of our citizens continues to be passed down to the next generation and celebrated throughout “Le Mois de la Francophonie,” then our history will be retained for years to come.

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