Woodlands Conservancy was organized as a nonprofit land trust organization in 2001 to preserve and restore forested wetlands and other ecologically or historically significant lands in Louisiana. Woodlands Conservancy owns five contiguous properties, totaling 190 acres of forested wetlands in Orleans Parish known as Delacroix Preserve. Additionally, Woodlands Conservancy owns the 649-acre Woodlands Preserve in Plaquemines Parish. These unique properties, containing one of the region’s last stands of bottomland hardwood forests, serve as one of the first ”fattening-up” areas for over 100 species of migratory birds. In addition to the values of the properties for wildlife and recreational and educational outings, this bottomland forest serves as a “natural sponge,” having the capacity to absorb 32 million gallons of water annually and functioning as a windstorm buffer to the residences and businesses in upper Plaquemines Parish as well as the Orleans Parish communities of English Turn and Lower Coast Algiers.