April 11, 2007
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| Terry Forrette will ride his Harley Davidson Road Glide around the perimeter of the continental United States, sharing information about wetlands and coastal preservation. |
Easy Glider
Louisiana activist prepares
for 12,000-mile road trip circling
the continental United States to raise awareness for protection, restoration
of the nation's wetlands
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Terry Forrette is trying to make a difference — one mile at a time.Combining his love of motorcycles and his passion for protecting wetlands, Forrette will travel more than 12,000 miles through 30 states and parts of Canada and Mexico on a journey around the country’s perimeter, dubbed “Riding the Rim.” The ride is designed to draw attention to the plight of America’s wetlands and the national effort it’ll take to restore the coastline.
“I like to say that ‘A problem without a solution becomes a dilemma.’ Well, this problem can be fixed, but it’s going to take a national effort to do so,” he says. “This is not a lost cause if we start acting now. If people become aware and become passionate about this, their passion will be contagious to others.”
In celebration of Earth Day 2007, Forrette will kick-start his 2005 Harley Road Glide and depart from his Mandeville, La., home April 21 to begin his trip around “the rim.” A kick-off event will begin at 10 a.m. that day on Riverview Drive behind the Audubon Zoo in uptown New Orleans.
During the 110-day ride, Forrette will try to post regular journal entries, where pictures along the route, tales from the road and updates on media and educational events will be available.
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Forrette’s partner in this adventure is America’s Wetland, a nonprofit group dedicated to wetlands and coastal restoration. All donations will be used for wetland restoration and educational projects. Efforts like Riding the Rim are made possible by many individuals and organizations, including the Coast Guardians, Education Technology Group, Medical Specialties, Aerostich Riderwear and Sign Services and Specialties. If you’d like to become a sponsor, contact Forrette at terry@ridingtherim.com. You can help out in many ways: • Pledge a penny (or more) for every mile that Forrette rides. • Make a donation; no amount is too small. • Become a corporate sponsor through a monetary grant. • Spread the word about Riding the Rim, and let everyone you know about it. • Enlist others to pledge, donate or become sponsors • Organize a media event in your area that Forrette can attend during his ride. • Give Forrette other ideas to help make this event a success. The ultimate goal, though, isn’t money: It’s raising awareness about the value of America’s wetlands.
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“The perimeter of the country consists of 6,053 miles of coastline and 6,055 miles of land, but I estimate that the trip will include about 16,000 miles of travel — all on a motorcycle and all to bring awareness about the plight of our wetlands and coastline,” he says.
Most of the trip will be done solo, but members of the Slidell HOG chapter will hook up with him in Biloxi, Miss., joining him on the final leg of the journey. Forrette is expected to wrap up his ride July 31 in New Orleans.
“I’ll be going off-route to meet a friend in Flagstaff and ride parts of old Route 66. We’ve been talking about doing it for years,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to riding up the California and Oregon coasts, along Highway 1, with all its natural beauty and lots of opportunities to meet other wetlands groups as well as other motorcycle groups.”
He’s partnered with America’s Wetland, and has made plans to meet with Vistage International groups in every major city to talk to various presidents and CEOs about the business-to-business aspects of wetlands restoration. He’ll also stop to speak with environmental organizations and when he arrives in Washington, D.C., he’d like to have an audience with legislators.
The idea behind the ride was a joint effort, sort of. “During the summer of (Hurricane) Katrina,” he says, “I was coming back from a trip up north, thinking about how my son was going to be graduating and that maybe I should take some time off and see the country. My wife said, ‘Well, if you’re going to take a ride, you might as well do it for the wetlands and help raise awareness. Why don’t you combine the two?’ ”
He laughs as he remembers how she drove home her point: “Besides, you run your motorcycle as well as you run your mouth.”
A long-distance rider since his formative years in Madison, Wis. (his first long trips took him into Canada and throughout the Midwest), “motorcycle touring has always been my passion,” he says. “I started riding motorcycles before I had my automobile license.”
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He moved to New Orleans in 1975 and became enchanted not only with the Big Easy, but the region as well. "Yes, the weather gets hot, the roaches are the size of small cats, and the local politics are at times less than honorable,” he says, “but with all that said there is a charm about the South, and especially New Orleans, that you can't describe with words. You have to experience it.”
But Southeastern Louisiana, like many coastal regions, is quickly disappearing. “This is not a problem that occurred overnight, and it won’t go away overnight,” Forrette points out. “It has been going on for years. I heard the doomsday predictions, but it just didn't seem like that big of a deal. Well, it is a big deal.”
Hurricane Katrina reminded everyone just how big of a deal it is. “I am determined to become part of the solution, to become engaged and not just enraged about the destruction of our wetlands and coastline,” he says.
“We’re running out of time in the New Orleans area, and if we don’t do something now, it’ll become an island city. The good news is that the destruction can be reversed.”
Contrary to popular belief, not all wetlands are bordered by saltwater bodies. Louisiana and surrounding areas, for example, rely upon wetlands as a resource for fishing and seafood industries, as a route for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s energy products, and — most importantly — as a means of protection from tidal surge during tropical storms and hurricanes.
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| Louisiana's wetlands, before and after Hurricane Katrina. |
And since the 1930s, the United States has lost 1.2 million acres of wetlands — about the size of Delaware.
“People's lives, homes and jobs are dependent on maintaining the wetlands,” he says. “Not just for the inhabitants of Louisiana and those states with tidal wetlands, but everyone in the country. You experience the importance of the wetlands each time you fill up at your gasoline station, pay a utility bill, or dine on fresh seafood from the Gulf.”
Coastal erosion goes hand in hand with wetland ecology. Shorelines along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico have undergone significant changes in the past several decades, losing natural breeding habitats because of industry and urbanization.
Forrette’s hope is that he will be able to sway people to take action. "If you tell people a story and make it entertaining and bring information they can understand, they will take it and act on it," he says.
Above all, his ride will demonstrate that “one person can make a difference.” He’d like to see his efforts help bring people together to build a network connecting wetlands groups from around the county.
“That is my quest,” he says, “to help inform, educate and convince anyone who will listen that the time for action is now.”
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