"A NEW NAME — AND A NEW CHAPTER"

Madisonville, LA August 29, 2026

The following is a reproduction of Facebook post that the Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) published today, announcing that its Facebook page has been renamed the Abbeville Red Iris Alliance (ARIA) as part of LICI’s transition to “an organization wholly focused on the conservation and restoration of the red Iris nelsonii, known as the Abbeville Red iris.”

(The original post on Facebook can be found here: )

"Well, it was just a question of time, but it has now happened: we have changed the name of this Facebook page from Louisiana Iris Conservation Initiative (LICI) to Abbeville Red Iris Alliance (ARIA).

This is another important step in the evolution of LICI—from an organization that focused primarily on rescuing, preserving and relocating the blue Iris giganticaerulea, the Giant Blue Louisiana iris, to an organization focused on the conservation and restoration of the red Iris nelsonii, known as the Abbeville Red iris.

When LICI was founded in 2020, we continued a blue iris rescue and relocation program that had originally been started by the Greater New Orleans Iris Society in 2017.

Over the years, 82,000 Giant Blue Louisiana irises were rescued from locations where they were threatened with destruction and relocated to places where the public could safely see them.

For much of that time, the projects involved properties belonging to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Louisiana State Parks, wildlife refuges and nature preserves. The irises were typically planted along boardwalks and nature trails in the swamp habitats they naturally favor.

In later years, the program expanded to include city and parish parks, attracting thousands of visitors.

The goal was always about more than simply saving wild irises. We wanted to make these beautiful native plants available for people to see when they bloom—and, hopefully, to spark an interest in the remarkable wetland habitats of southern Louisiana where they naturally occur and the importance of protecting those habitats.

As part of that effort, we created and published an online Louisiana Iris Viewing Locations Map and Ranking, showing people where they could go to see native Louisiana irises in bloom. Many of the locations were LICI projects, and from the very first year the map received tens of thousands of views. Some of the mangers of the proprieties listed on the map reported having hundreds people coming to view their blooming irises.

We are hopeful that another organization will take over this wonderful outreach and educational tool.

THE MOVE TO THE ABBEVILLE RED IRIS

We were invited in 2023 by the Friends of Palmetto Island State Park near Abbeville, La. to participate in the restoration of this extremely rare iris species. We will always be grateful for that invitation.

Since then, the more we learned about the Abbeville Red iris, the more interested we became in its native habitat—the Abbeville Swamp in Vermilion Parish.

Beginning in late December 2025, we made the decision to move our primary focus away from Iris giganticaerulea and toward Iris nelsonii—the Abbeville Red iris.

The interest that started in 2023 gradually led LICI, working with an ever-growing group of partners, to develop a restoration program centered on collecting seeds from the Abbeville Swamp, growing those seeds into healthy plants, and eventually planting them in the boardwalk swamp at Palmetto Island State Park. The plan includes moving many of these irises back into the Abbeville Swamp once they are confirmed to be pure Iris nelsonii to increase the number of irises growing there.

And something very exciting happened along the way.

As awareness of the restoration project grew, more and more organizations and individuals wanted to become involved.

At the same time, the manager of Palmetto Island State Park began developing the Abbeville Red Iris Bloom Event, which will expand next April to include a Nature Day component featuring additional conservation, habitat restoration and nature organizations.

It became increasingly clear that the long-term success of both the restoration project and the bloom event would depend on strong involvement from the local community.

LICI is located about three hours away from Vermilion Parish. While we have been honored to lead and help develop this effort, we came to realize that the long-term future of the Abbeville Red iris needed the commitment, dedication and leadership of local organizations and people in the community where this remarkable plant naturally occurs.

That realization led, just three weeks ago, to the founding of the Abbeville Red Iris Alliance (ARIA).

LICI is one of the four founding member organizations of ARIA, and invitations went out this week to additional organizations interested in becoming members.

And importantly, the people who have volunteered with LICI throughout this transition aren't going anywhere.

We will continue working with ARIA and our many partners to help accomplish its mission of saving the Abbeville Red iris and protecting and restoring its native habitat.

It is exciting to see how far this effort in Vermilion Parish has come in just a few years. But there is still a tremendous amount of work to do.

We are looking forward to continuing to be a part of that effort—and we hope you will continue to be part of it, too.

A BIG THANK YOU!!

To the donors and hundreds of volunteers who have given their time, energy and expertise to LICI over the years, and to the almost 12,000 people who follow this Facebook page: THANK YOU!

You helped make this journey possible, exciting and incredibly productive.

What began as an effort to rescue Louisiana's Giant Blue iris has evolved into something new—an expanding community effort dedicated to one of Louisiana's rarest and most remarkable native plants.

The next chapter is beginning.

Abbeville Red Iris Alliance - Saving the Abbeville Red. Protecting its habitat. Preserving a piece of Louisiana's natural heritage."