Queen Bess Island, Grand Isle, Louisiana

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Queen Bees is a historic island off the coast of Grand Isle, Louisiana, known for its nesting ground for many coastal bird species.
The subsidence of materials and continuous erosion, multiple storms, and impacts from the BP oil spill left the island degraded and in poor condition.
RES and Pontchartrain Partners, LLC teams up to revitalize this landmark in a seven-month process.
To meet the project’s needs for vegetative cover, RES grew plants from cuttings in our Pointe Aux Chenes nursery.
Vegetating the island required transporting all personnel, supplies, materials, and equipment to the work area by way of a deck barge.
The RES crew subsoiled lines for five-foot spacing in the fresh aggregate within the planting cells.
Crews de-potted the plants on-site and installed the vegetation using augers to dig holes for each plant.
Over 26,000 plants were planted on the island.
To help reduce wind erosion, the team installed hay bales to protect the newly established plants.
The bales stabilize the sand on the surface of the planting cell. To protect the island’s wildlife, RES bound the bales with biodegradable twine strings and placed them in rows running parallel with the rows of plants.
Using a sub-centimeter GPS, RES recorded blocks for each planted species. The data was used to develop an as-built map for future monitoring efforts on the island.
Queen Bess Island before.
Queen Bess Island after.