20th Anniversary Gala

ABK will be celebrating our 20 year Anniversary of protecting and preserving the Atchafalaya Basin. This event is focused on education about the Atchafalaya ecosystems, supporting the rich culture, and the importance of the Atchafalaya Basin to the surrounding areas and on a global scale.

As guests arrive they will be greeted by Dean Wilson, Executive Director of Atchafalaya Basinkeeper. They will receive a gift from sponsors that support the Atchafalaya Basin. The event will feature Grammy award-winning musician Louis Michot performing against the backdrop of the setting sun over the Mississippi River in the Riverview Ballroom of the Baton Rouge Hilton. The beginning of our program will showcase the film Majestic Atchafalaya. Dinner will be served as the participants settle in to hear from Lisa Jordan, Director of Tulane’s Environmental Law Clinic, about her experience supervising students in the representation of clients in Louisiana who are impacted by destructive activities and reckless agency permitting that affect the environment, including the state’s wetlands and waterways. Dr. Ivor Van Heerden will follow. With a lifetime of research, since 1977, in the Atchafalaya Basin he will discuss the importance of the Basin for Louisiana, our country and the world and needed solutions to the many threats to this amazing ecosystems. Marc Yaggi, CEO of Waterkeeper Alliance, will follow, sharing with us the importance of the waterway systems globally, what it takes to protect important ecosystems like the Atchafalaya Basin, the impact of the Atchafalaya Basin locally and beyond.

Through this event our hope is to encourage and engage care, love and understanding of the richness of the Atchafalaya Basin in our own state.