Photograph by Gregg Trusty/LSUS News

Testing the Waters

Senior James Bamburg checks watershed monitoring equipment positioned in a culvert as Carrie Salinas, a graduate student, and Gary Hanson check a water-quality monitor. The scene is in C. Bickham Dickson Park, site of the Red River Education and Research Park at Sunflower Point, a natural wetlands managed by the LSUS Red River Watershed Management Institute, which Hanson directs. The Institute and its wetlands research have gained national attention and recently received a $450,000 federal appropriation, the university’s first-ever congressional earmark. The research park is a partnership between LSUS and the city of Shreveport. The Institute has formed other strategic partnerships, including ones with Ohio State University and LSU A&M. RRERP at Sunflower Point is the largest of its kind in the country.