Environmental Policy Lab Students Work to Solve Invasive Water Hyacinth Problem

Students in Professor Marianne Cufone’s Environmental Policy Lab have helped a local Indian tribe solve a two-fold problem: rectifying a policy logjam and restoring Louisiana’s aquatic ecosystems.

2Ls Logan Pullin and Jessica Jagoda secured a critical permit for the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw tribe to collect water hyacinth, an invasive plant that clogs waterways, suffocates native fish and blocks sunlight needed for healthy ecosystems underwater. For years, the state of Louisiana was hesitant to allow private citizens to handle or transport water hyacinth because of its high probability of spreading. 

Pullin and Jagoda worked with the nonprofit Rooting for Change to craft a permit request to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which the department granted in February. The permit allows the tribe to hand collect water hyacinth in Bayou Grand Caillou and Bayou Little Caillou and turn it into a resource for compost, furniture and artisanal crafts. 

By allowing the tribe to hand collect the hyacinth, this permit will also cut down on the use of herbicides that are normally used to eliminate the plant.

The College of Law’s Environmental Policy Lab is a unique course where students work under the supervision of skilled attorneys with years of city, state, federal and international environmental advocacy experience on a semester-long project with real nonprofit or community clients. Learn more about Loyola’s environmental law policy lab here.