ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about innovative, collaborative, and successful approach forged by the members of the Grand Bayou, Louisiana community in partnership with social and physical scientists. It argues that the project can serve as an exemplar of a non-traditional approach for other communities facing the unique challenges. Displaced Grand Bayou residents reside in trailers provided for storm evacuees by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in Plaquemines Parish, Houma, and other small Louisiana communities, as well as far north as Tennessee. Even though there is a historical record of the Houma from the nineteenth century, they have been perceived by many over the past century not as Indians, but as a mixed ethnic group. The political-ecological setting of a society or community is an important factor contributing to its 'vulnerability index'. The world of today is very different for Grand Bayou residents than the world of their childhood and ancestors.
