New Orleans suffered many losses in Katrina and its aftermath. One of the major casualties was the city’s trees. Over 100,000 were lost, including most of the beautiful magnolias and many live oaks.
In 2006, lifelong New Orleans resident Monique Pilié hiked the 2175 miles of the Appalachian Trail, starting in Georgia and ending in Maine. Her goal was to raise awareness of the storm’s impact on the city’s treescape and to raise enough money to plant one tree in New Orleans for every mile she hiked. To that end she started a non-profit organization called “Hike for KaTREEna”.
On October 7 2006, after six months hiking, Monique finished the Appalachian Trail, arriving at Mt Katahdin in Maine. During the hike she raised thousands of dollars. She came home and, together with a host of volunteers from New Orleans and across the country, she began planting trees.
Hike for KaTREEna is still planting… and still raising money to replace the tens of thousands of trees still sorely missed in New Orleans.
