Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station was built in 1908 entirely from baldcypress lumber logged from the swamps which once completely surrounded it. In order to meet the extremely high demands for lumber near the turn of the century, this valuable swamp forest was completely logged, leaving virtually no mature trees standing.
Today there are precious few baldcypress trees left.
Fortunately Turtle Cove is geographically situated such that it provides an ideal location for baldcypress and other wetland restoration projects as well as an excellent field site for environmental education, teacher workshops and outreach programs. Several such programs are sponsored by Southeastern Louisiana University, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation and other funding sources. Turtle Cove is the field research station of Southeastern Louisiana University's College of Arts and Sciences. Its predominate use is by faculty and students in the biology department, but it is also used by chemistry and physics , visual arts and many other departments on campus. It is utilized for the instruction of undergraduate and graduate classes, various research programs like those of SWRL , and many teacher education and K-12 partnership programs.