Pellegrino’s arrival at Lake Pontchartrain Beach was the culmination of a journey from Miami to New Orleans, spanning 38 days with stops in Florida, Alabama and Mississippi to promote coastal restoration.

She has paddled in her Outrigger Connection canoe, outfitted with GPS, on this trip and two others by herself. Two of the three trips have been a partnership between Pellegrino and the Gulf Restoration Network, which works with the Gulf states promoting wetland preservation.

In 2006 Pellegrino partnered with the Natural Resources Defense Council to paddle from New Jersey to Washington, D.C. , also to promote coastal restoration, and in 2007 she paddled the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, from Miami to Maine, in three months. She took the last step in her journey to do the same for the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday.

Though these trips were quite taxing on her body and time-consuming, Pellegrino thinks of the ocean as “my favorite playground.” On every voyage, it’s just Pellegrino and nature. “I love to feel the waves and smell the salt. There’s just something really calming about it. How can you have a bad day on the water?”

Pellegrino, who when not paddling is a stay-at-home mother, calls the coast vital to the U.S. economy: “If it’s allowed to degrade, we’re just not going to have it anymore,” she said.” Once this goes under, it’s done.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service say loss of wetlands along the Gulf Coast has outpaced wetland loss in other parts of the United States.

From 1998 to 2004, NOAA says, the Gulf Coast lost more than 370,000 acres of wetlands, a rate 25 times greater than wetland loss along the Atlantic Coast, which lost just 15,000 acres during the same period. Both regions have about 15 million acres of coastal wetlands.

Coastal wetlands provide spawning grounds, nurseries, shelter and food for finfish, shellfish, birds and other wildlife, NOAA says. Also, healthier wetlands mean more and healthier shrimp, blue crabs, oysters and other species.

Aaron Viles, campaign director for the Gulf Restoration Network, said: “The fisheries aren’t doing that well. We’re losing wetlands faster than any other part of the country, and it’s because of poor management of those resources.”

New development in the Gulf region is “the overwhelming factor” in the loss, according to NOAA. The wetlands of Mississippi and Alabama are especially at risk because of new development near the coastlines of both states, but Louisiana is losing 20,000 acres of wetlands per year.

Pellegrino hopes to help slow the loss of wetlands before it’s too late. Instead of “going green,” she prefers the motto “go blue,” her mantra for raising coastal restoration awareness.

Viles says: “What’s amazing about Margo is her commitment to coastal restoration. Her passion is terribly inspiring, and the amount of energy she puts into it should inspire us to do something.”

“It’s not that we have to pick up a paddle to help out. We could pick up a pen and write to our governor or mayor to make sure we are doing more to protect our natural resources.”

Viles refers to the Gulf as an “amazing treasure.” He says coastal residents rely on the wetlands for ports, seafood and safe drinking water. He also says oil and gas development are causing the wetlands to wash away.

On her voyage from Miami to the Gulf, Pellegrino says she paddled between 30 and 50 miles each day, often stopping just before sunset.

But the ocean wasn’t always kind to her.

The rudder cables on her canoe broke in Alabama – local fisherman repaired them. A hole in her canoe needed patching in Bay St. Louis – a beachfront repair shop closed the gash, free of charge.

Through it all, she kept on.

“It was another amazing trip,” Pellegrino says. “I did Miami to Maine, and that was phenomenal, but this has been just as awesome. It’s amazing to meet so many people who care about having clean oceans and a healthy Gulf.”

Pellegrino says that after the celebration is over, her husband, Carl, would help her disassemble her canoe and load it onto the car. The family, which includes her son, 7, and daughter, 4, planned to drive back to Medford, N.J., on Sunday.

Pellegrino says she is contemplating another voyage but hasn’t decided where yet.

“It’s hard,” Pellegrino says. “I want to do the Pacific Coast, but my son doesn’t want me to. We’ll see.”

This year will be no different.

Since 1992, 11 hurricanes have battered the Louisiana coastline. And in the past few years, the New Orleans Sewerage and Water Board and the Office of Homeland Security have collaborated on countless projects.

Joseph R. Becker, spokesman for the board’s General Superintendent’s Office, said that during a hurricane 300 employees usually live in the city’s 24 pumping stations, working around the clock. He also said the stations generate their own power needed to run the stations.

“We’re basically in a bowl, so water won’t drain without being pumped out,” Becker said. “Our drainage system pumps water out of the city into Lake Pontchartrain. It basically moves water from one point to the next.”

Robert Jackson, public relations director for the sewerage board, said over the next several years, New Orleans is scheduled to make more than $800 million in emergency preparedness improvements – although he didn’t go into detail.

“In the case of a flood or hurricane, our job is to make sure we have the staff and equipment necessary to pump the water out,” Jackson said. “Water is our history.”

In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in southern Florida as a Category 5 storm, causing catastrophic damage, and hit the Louisiana coast as a Category 3 storm. Seven people died and 94 were injured across southern Louisiana.

In 2005, which broke all records with 27 named storms, including three that reached Category 5 strength, hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the Louisiana coast and outlying cities 20 days apart.

At its peak, Katrina was a Category 5 storm with winds up to 175 miles per hour, but weakened to a Category 3 before making landfall on the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29. The storm is nationally known as the natural disaster that weakened the city’s levee system, which broke in several places – although the Industrial Canal levee was punctured by a barge – and over 90 percent of New Orleans was flooded. Then Rita hit Louisiana as a Category 3 storm, re-breaching the Industrial Canal levee, causing massive reflooding of the area.

The city still hasn’t fully recovered.

“The main response activity for police, fire and medical workers is to evacuate in the event of a Category 3 or higher storm, then we do whatever else under the mayor’s direction,” said Tom Ignelzy, senior planner for the Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness. “But what we’ve found is that not many people have the finances to evacuate the city. It takes some money.”

That was evident on television stations nationwide in scenes of local residents who couldn’t leave the city making their way to the Superdome instead.

Despite forecasts of active hurricane seasons in 2006 and 2007, no storms made landfall in the United States.

Evacuation preparations were better in 2008 for Hurricane Gustav, the fourth-most -destructive hurricane ever to hit the United States. “Last year, for Gustav, we evacuated 20,000 people and went to 70 pickup points in the city, and put them on state-sponsored buses that took them to shelters,” Ignelzy said. “That’s the biggest project we work with.” Gustav made landfall along the Louisiana coast as a strong Category 2 hurricane, just one mile per hour below Category 3, killing 46 Louisiana residents.

Fourteen days later, Hurricane Ike made landfall. Levees overtopped in St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Terrebone, St. Mary and Jefferson parishes, and eight Louisiana residents were killed.

It is estimated the Gulf Coast sustained $27 billion in damages from Hurricane Ike.

Ignelzy said there are several areas in New Orleans that drain slower than others after a heavy rain, though this doesn’t necessarily cause flooding in those areas.

“We look at the areas that are prone to any kind of water collection activities and we try to make sure to clear those up,” Ignelzy said. “We’re confident that we have enough to withstand the storm season this year.”

Storm season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, but storms can form close to those dates. In 2005 a storm named Epsilon became a hurricane two days after the hurricane season ended –  only the fifth hurricane in 120 years to form in December.

No storms have been known to have hit the United States between December and May, and this year appears to be no different, although stormy weather was expected this Memorial Day weekend. All three days of the extended weekend were forecast to have  at least a 50 percent chance of rain or higher, according to the National Weather Service.

Ignelzy said Homeland Security works closely with the National Weather Service in Slidell to keep updates on weather and possible evacuations.

“There are no tropical storms in the Gulf right now, just a non-tropical depression that rolled through Florida,” Ignelzy said. “We figure we’ll get some bans of rain over the next three days, roughly three inches. That’s nothing more than a good soaking.”

Lakefront Arena at the University of New Orleans may fall silent if athletic programs are cut. (Mylan Cannon/NYT Institute)

In the wake of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposed budget cuts, the University of New Orleans may have to ax its athletic program.

Under the governor’s fiscal 2009-10 budget plan, UNO is facing $15.3 million in budget cuts, including $1.4 million in athletics funding. All institutions of higher education in Louisiana will lose a total of $218 million in funding.

The proposed budget is yet another blow to the athletic program. On May 1, UNO students voted 53 percent to 47 percent against doubling the fee for athletics, to $200 per credit hour. If the vote had gone the other way, the school’s cash-strapped athletic department could have survived. Now, the department’s fate rests with the Louisiana Legislature.

“I’m still holding out hope to get money into higher education,” said UNO basketball coach Joe Pasternack. “Hopefully, we don’t have to raise a penny.”

UNO received $70.8 million in state funding during the 2008-9 school year. Under the proposed budget cuts, the school will receive$ 59.7 million next year.  By contrast, LSU received $239.6 million in state funding last year. Next year, however, the school will receive $201.9 million.

“I would imagine that UNO has decided to not allocate state funding to athletics because it can be used elsewhere,” said Meg Casper, assistant to Sally Clausen, the commissioner of the Louisiana Board of Regents. “This is a prioritized decision. Each individual school is given a certain operating amount and then the school decides how to divide it.”

Some UNO students had mixed reactions Wednesday to the news of the potential shutdown of the athletic program.

“I wanted the school to keep athletics just so we would have sports, but no one goes to the games anyway,” said Barry Kelly, a graduate business administration student and Baton Rouge native who voted against the tuition increase.  ”The teams aren’t that good, and I didn’t want to pay $100 for them to hang around.”

Kelly said he attended one only athletic event last year, the homecoming basketball game against North Carolina State, which was the first game the UNO basketball team played in  Lakefront Arena since 2005.

“There may have been 500 people there,” Kelly said. “The team isn’t good. If they were better, people might go.”

Nagendrajumar Beeravolu, 23, a graduate student studying electrical engineering at UNO, was in favor of the tuition increase.

“Paying $100 more won’t hurt me because I am on scholarship,” Beeravolu said. “Besides it’s not that much of an increase, and some people come here for athletics. If there is no athletic department, it will definitely hurt the school.”

Before Katrina, UNO had 14 NCAA-sponsored sports. Eight sports, including men’s and women’s track and field, cross country and women’s golf, were cut when the school reopened after Katrina, and men’s and women’s swimming and diving were added last year. The university also suspended men’s and women’s tennis but reinstated them last year, giving the school a total of  nine sports- five short of the standard for Division I schools.

UNO has partnered with New Orleans Hornets owner George Shinn in an effort to raise funds for athletics. Pasternack said the school’s first fundraiser with the Hornets will be a season ticket drive. Pasternack said the department’s potential budget cuts haven’t hurt basketball recruiting.

“A lot of big-time people in the city have jumped on board, so we’re excited about it,” he said.

Harrah's casino in New Orleans is a prominent player in the local gambling industry, which is facing declining revenues. (Mylan Cannon/ NYT Institute)

In Louisiana, casinos had $2.58 billion in revenue last year, a decline of less than 1 percent from $2.57 billion in 2007, according to a report by the American Gambling Association. Meanwhile, Mississippi casinos recorded a 5.9 percent drop in revenue, from $2.89 billion in 2007 to $2.72 billion last year. Those figures compare to a nationwide drop of 4.7 percent, to $32.54 billion.

“It’s just that people are spending less,” said Larry Gregory, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission. “They’re being tight with entertainment dollars, are eating less and aren’t staying as long.”

The American Gambling Association and Louisiana Casino Association did not return several calls seeking comment.

Louisiana and Mississippi aren’t the only states that have had revenue drops at casinos. Colorado and Illinois had the largest revenue declines at 12.3 percent and 20.9 percent, respectively, according to the report.

Gregory said Louisiana and Mississippi have been able to avoid deeper revenue drops because of their close driving distance from neighboring states. “We would like to be in the positive numbers, but we’re not going to complain,” he said.

To be sure, Louisiana and Mississippi have some of the nation’s largest casinos in terms of gambling revenue. Mississippi casinos in Tunica/Lula and Biloxi rank No. 6 and 8, respectively. Louisiana casinos in New Orleans and Lake Charles rank 14 and 15, respectively.

Still, the casinos in the two states have suffered as consumers cut back spending during the current recession. According to the American Gaming Association, in Mississippi 1,830 jobs were cut last year, leaving  28,740, while in Louisiana 740 jobs were cut, leaving 17,268.

And plans for new casinos have been delayed. Gregory said that in Mississippi Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.’s Margaritaville Casino has been on hold almost a year. And in Louisiana, Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. has delayed its plans for two riverboat casinos in Baton Rouge and Lake Charles by five months.

“The financing numbers are closed right now,” Gregory said. “Until the markets open up and capital comes in, we’re not seeing any new development. That’s critical for any gaming industry to survive.”

New Orleans Zephyrs infielder Craig Matt hits a home run that gave the Zephyrs their only score, as the Portland Beavers handed the Zephyrs their fifth consecutive loss, 5-1, on Tuesday in Metairie, La. (Ray Tyler/The New York Times Student Journalism Institute)

METAIRIE — What started as a pretty day of baseball ended in a murderer’s row of inconsistent pitching for the New Orleans Zephyrs on Tuesday.

In front of a fairly empty stadium with sun-washed seats, the Zephyrs lacked the depth and run support to outlast the visiting Portland Beavers as they emerged victorious 5-1. The loss was the Zephyrs’ fifth consecutive loss, and their fourth straight loss to the Beavers. The Zephyrs’ record is now 14-25.

In the series Portland pitchers have retired the Zephyrs side in order 18 times.

What’s the problem?

Three players were injured. Dave Matranga (hamstring), Cameron Maybin (strained groin) and Michael Ryan (strained rib) all played hurt. Zephyrs manager Edwin Rodriguez said only 10 players on the roster are healthy. That has contributed to the team’s having problems winning at home, and going 4-15 this season.

To make matters worse for the Zephyrs, four pitchers scattered five runs on just seven hits, and their infield committed two errors. Meanwhile Zephyr batters left three men on base as the game ran 2:22, the shortest time all year.

“First it was the pitching, now it’s the hitting,” Rodriguez said. “That’s taking a toll on our hitting because there are only so many healthy players.”

Daniel Barone, one of the few healthy Zephyrs, turned in what could have been a winning pitching performance had there been better run support. In six innings Barone (2-4) surrendered two runs on five hits and struck out three.

Only four Zephyrs pitchers have lasted through the sixth this season.

“It was good to see Barone give us the game that he did,” Rodriguez said. “He needed that and so did our team.”

The Beavers’ three pitchers gave up only five hits. Zephyrs infielder Matt Craig was the only batter to score a run, smashing a home run over the center field fence off Lake Charles native Wade LeBlanc on a 1-2 pitch in the second inning. Craig was also the only Zephyr batter with multiple hits. More impressive, his home run came batting right handed and his base hit left handed.

LeBlanc, on a 40-pitch count, threw just two innings because of bicep tendinitis. His last start was May 9.

“You want to get your hits but you also want to win,” Craig said. “I’m disappointed we didn’t win.”

“It’s just the way the game goes. You would like to put more runs on the board, but you go through your ups and downs. We’re kind of at a down point because a few of our key hitters are injured.”

Up 3-1 heading into the ninth, the Beavers scored two runs and left one on base without a hit. Beavers pitcher Josh Banks pitched six innings with two hits and six strike outs on 65 pitches. He didn’t allow a walk.

“I knew I needed to go as far as I could and keep us in the game,” said Banks, who entered in the third inning with the Beavers up 2-1. “When I came in there was no room for error, so I didn’t want to give up a big inning.”

The Beavers edged the Zephyrs Monday, 3-2 in 12 innings. The Zephyrs have had only 14 hits in three games and have been outscored 16-7 in four losses to Portland.

“The bullpen pitched well the whole series,” Beavers manager Randy Ready said. “For those guys to sweep the series and throw a bunch of zeros up there showed we were able to take advantage of their offense.”

LaSharah Bunting, Trymaine Lee and Kortney Stringer took turns touching on subjects ranging from how to break the ice on an interview to how to be more like a sponge and absorb helpful information. Lee urged that students, “Be open and absorb information, and talk to people.”

Lee, a former reporter for the Times Picayune in New Orleans gave several examples of how he covered events in the city after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August of 2005.

“Keep it super casual,” Lee said. “Try to build relationships to get background information. That goes a long way.”

Stringer and Bunting also urged that students be mindful of people’s agendas and take accurate notes.

All in all, this was an informative session touching on everything the students need to know. It also got lots of feedback from Don Hecker.

Best advice: Know people’s motives for giving unattributed information, and know the difference between off the record, on background and attribution-Hecker.