With the Gulf oil spill, saving the wetlands has suddenly become part of the most important topic in the national media. While it is affecting the entire country, such disasters far away from home make it difficult for local residents to feel like they are helping. Fortunately for Louisiana, the Second Annual Voice of the Wetlands Golf Tournament is being held this Sunday at the Valley Country Club.

“I have been a fan of New Orleans and New Orleans culture and music for several years,” says Ray Harrison.

Harrison, along with Ray Parenteau and a group of tireless volunteers are hosting the tournament in an effort to raise relief funds for the bayou.

“What I’m seeing in the Gulf is worse than anything I’ve seen in my entire life,” said Tab Benoit.

Benoit is a blues musician from Houna, La., that has dedicated countless hours of his time to the Voice of the Wetlands (VOW) Foundation.

Voice of the Wetlands is a group dedicated to preserving Louisiana’s coastline from the depletion of sediment from the Mississippi River into the area.

“In my town in the last 20 years we’ve lost 17 miles, that’s almost a mile a year. Go out to the coastline and walk in 17 miles, and all that is just gone,” said Benoit.

The wetlands protect the Louisiana coastal regions by acting as a sponge to soak up storm surges from hurricanes.

“New Orleans flooded in 2005 by a hurricane that missed New Orleans because the wetlands weren’t strong enough to absorb the storm surge.”

In 1927, the federal government altered the flow of the Mississippi River for shipping purposes, thus redirecting the movement of the silt into the wetlands. Levees were built and shipping channels were kept open via jetties, causing the Mississippi to drop the sediment into deep waters. Now saltwater is flowing into the wetlands killing plants and species that live there.

“You can’t mess with mother nature,” said Harrison.

According to the VOW Web site, coastal Louisiana has lost an average of 34 square miles of land, primarily marsh, per year for the last 50 years.

“Tab is a tireless worker on wetlands and coastal erosion. He was named the Louisiana conservationist of the year this year,” said Parenteau.

With the recent catastrophic spill off of the coast of Louisiana, this repeatedly ravaged area is facing an improbable foe.

To date, the blowout 5,000 feet below the sea surface has pumped between 21 million and 34 million gallons of oil, using the current federal estimates of daily flow. The Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989 dumped at least 10 million gallons off the shoreline of Prince William Sound in Alaska and was at the time considered to be one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters of all time.

Harrison attended Benoit’s festival for VOW in October of 2008 and decided to develop a fundraiser here. Harrison is a member at Valley and thought it would be a great venue for the event. Last year they held the tournament at the New England Country Club because they had no idea how many people would show and did not want to bite off more than they could chew. After the success they saw last year, they knew Valley would be perfect

Benoit has been inducted into Louisiana’s music hall of fame and developed a strong following in the New England area after playing here throughout the ’90s. Harrison says that while the spill is tragic on many levels, it can be looked at as an opportunity to right a wrong.

“There’s going to be damages paid by BP, we look at this as an opportunity to be a voice and try to help educate for our cause and maybe use some of that money to correct the problem,” said Harrison.

Last year the event raised almost $10,000 and this year they are hoping for even more. The day kicks off with a lunch at 11:30 a.m., followed by the golf tournament at 1 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m. and ending with a live show from Benoit at 8 p.m. Tickets for the full day are $225, which include a donation, and vary depending on how many events people wish to participate in.

“We found that most blues fans don’t golf, so if they just want to come for the show that’s fine,” said Harrison.

Anyone interested in purchasing tickets can do so at www.tabbenoitvowgolf.org.