Cook-Off for the Coast 2024

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Cook-Off for the Coast 2024

03.15.2024 | Posted by Cook-Off for the Coast 2024

In its sixth year, the Cook-Off for the Coast 2024 was our largest and most successful Cook-Off to date! Over $20,000 was raised through sponsorships, donations and merch sales, and more than 2,000 attendees came out to enjoy the delicious food and plentiful sunshine at Docville Farm on February 24th. As always money raised will go to coastal restoration projects in St. Bernard Parish. This year the Cook-Off will be supporting the Chandeleur Sound Living Shoreline Project, a partnership with …

Master Plan Success: River Reintroduction to Maurepas Swamp

Project Highlight: River Reintroduction to Maurepas Swamp As one of the largest forested wetlands in the nation, Maurepas Swamp provides important ecological and socioeconomic benefits to southeast Louisiana. The swamp not only improves water quality and habitat for many species of conservation importance but also increases resilience against storms for coastal communities from the Greater New Orleans region to the River Parishes and up into Greater Baton Rouge. Voice for Restoration “The Biloxi Marsh Living Shoreline Project provides much-needed storm …

50 Years of Building New Land For the Wax Lake Delta

11.03.2023 | Posted by Alisha Renfro, Coastal Scientist, Mississippi River Delta Restoration Program, National Wildlife Federation

It’s been 50 years since the Wax Lake Delta began to emerge from open water. The delta continues to grow and thrive today, providing a living laboratory to study what is possible when we let the river build new land. Right now, the flow of the Mississippi River is hardly more than a trickle due to the low rainfall throughout much of the river’s enormous watershed. However, in 1973, rain and snow fell throughout the same watershed, causing the river …

Louisiana Breaks Ground on Largest Coastal Restoration Project in U.S. History

Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion will create up to 40 square miles of new land (NEW ORLEANS, LA August 10, 2023) — Today, the State of Louisiana broke ground on the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the largest single ecosystem restoration project in U.S. history and a monumental milestone decades in the making. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, a cornerstone of Louisiana’s comprehensive plan to build and sustain coastal wetlands, will mimic natural land-building processes by reconnecting the Mississippi River to its surrounding wetlands, creating …

Master Plan Success: Rabbit Island

06.15.2023 | Posted by Master Plan Success: Rabbit Island

Project Highlight: Rabbit Island Restoration   Rabbit Island is essential to many colonial nesting bird species, including Brown Pelicans and reddish egrets. Prior to restoration, the island had lost 89 acres of landmass. This land loss had led to the deterioration of the Rabbit Island rookery and jeopardized the second largest Brown Pelican rookery in Louisiana. The island restoration was completed in 2021 as part of the 2017 Coastal Master Plan. This barrier island project used sediment dredged from Calcasieu Ship …

Master Plan Success: Biloxi Marsh Living Shoreline

Project Highlight: Biloxi Marsh Living Shoreline This living shoreline project is estimated to generate approximately 47,000 feet of oyster barrier reef along the eastern shore of Biloxi Marsh, providing a habitat for oysters, reducing wave erosion, and preventing further marsh degradation. This enhanced marsh area serves as an important storm buffer for the greater New Orleans region. Voice for Restoration “The Biloxi Marsh Living Shoreline Project provides much-needed storm protection for St. Bernard communities. It is a great example of …

View From Above: Neptune Pass

05.19.2023 | Posted by View From Above: Neptune Pass

The scale of Louisiana’s land loss crisis – and the work being done to preserve it – can be hard to grasp from the ground. One of the best education and advocacy tools for coastal restoration is to fly people over the coast to see the scale and impacts of our land loss crisis. While we can’t bring everyone up on a plane, we can do our best to bring that perspective to you here. In this blog series, we …

View From Above: Bohemia Spillway and Mardi Gras Pass

04.21.2023 | Posted by Ryan Chauvin, Senior Digital Marketing and Communications Manager, Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, National Audubon Society

The scale of Louisiana’s land loss crisis – and the work being done to preserve it – can be hard to grasp from the ground. One of the best education and advocacy tools for coastal restoration is to fly people over the coast to see the scale and impacts of our land loss crisis. While we can’t bring everyone up on a plane, we can do our best to bring that perspective to you here. In this blog series, we …

How Does the Coastal Master Plan Impact Me?

01.19.2023 | Posted by Ryan Chauvin, Senior Digital Marketing and Communications Manager, Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, National Audubon Society

Earlier this month, the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority released its draft 2023 Coastal Master Plan (CMP). This plan serves as a guide for Louisiana’s coastal restoration and risk reduction efforts and is released every 6 years. The plan is the end product of thousands of hours of engineering, research and modeling to determine how to best spend Louisiana’s resources over the next 50 years in the face of climate change, sea level rise and land loss. At 100 …

A View from Above: Join us for a Flyover Along the Mississippi River

11.14.2022 | Posted by Ryan Chauvin, Senior Digital Marketing and Communications Manager, Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, National Audubon Society

Hello there! Welcome to your personalized flight across Louisiana’s coast. Here at Restore the Mississippi River Delta, we work daily to confront Louisiana’s land loss crisis by advancing large-scale coastal restoration projects to build and sustain land. Louisiana is losing a football field of land every 100 minutes. Since the 1930s, we’ve lost land equivalent to the size of Delaware. Without bold action, Louisiana could lose another 4,000 square miles over the next 50 years. We have no time to …

Getting the Recipe Right: How Adaptive Management Can Help Optimize Diversions

As the weather begins to cool down in Louisiana, there is no better time to talk about everyone’s favorite dish: a nice warm bowl of gumbo. Whether your favorite is seafood or chicken and sausage, several steps go into perfecting a gumbo recipe. “Coastal restoration” might not immediately come to mind when you think about a perfect gumbo. But in reality, perfecting the operation of Louisiana’s sediment diversions is a lot like getting a classic gumbo recipe tried, true, and …

The Mississippi River is Our Greatest Force for Building Land

10.12.2022 | Posted by Alisha Renfro, Coastal Scientist, Mississippi River Delta Restoration Program, National Wildlife Federation

Skip to a section 1. The River in Action. Neptune Pass Is Building Land 2. Diversions Build Land. Period. 3. While not a Sediment Diversion, the Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion Builds Land 4. Wetlands Need Sediment to Survive 5. Roots + Sediment = Stronger Soils, More Resilient Marshes 6. There is more to Sediment than Sand 7. Diversions are Field-Tested and Scientifically Solid 8. The Mid Barataria Sediment Diversion is a Coastal Restoration Project, Not MRGO 9. Diversions + Nutrients = …

Delta Dispatches: See Ya Later, Alligator

Listen Now: In today’s episode of Delta Dispatches, we say goodbye to host Jacques Hebert, who leaves the show, and the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition to become the Communication Director for the McKnight Foundation. We’re joined by several special guests (Chip Kline, Bren Haase, Steve Caparotta, and Steve Cochran) to reflect on 194 episodes of Delta Dispatches and the incalculable contributions Jacques has made to the restoration of Louisiana’s coast. Join us in wishing Jacques good luck in …

Coastal Restoration Plan Advances over $74M in Restoration Projects

Media Statement of Restore the Mississippi River Delta (New Orleans, LA.- July 29, 2022)  Today, the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group of the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees released its Final Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment #8: Wetlands, Coastal, and Nearshore Habitats. Earlier this year, over 160 representatives of business, government, environmental, community and other groups in Louisiana signed on to a letter in support of this plan. In response, Restore the Mississippi River Delta – a coalition of …

Delta Dispatches: From Headwaters to the (Delta) Dispatches

Listen Now: Today’s episode explores the other end of the Mighty Mississippi by welcoming Trevor Russell, Water Program Director with Friends of the Mississippi River. Based in Minnesota, Russell paints a picture of the upper river, discusses his organization’s work to enhance the health of the Mississippi River from the Twin Cities and beyond. In particular, he highlights the organization’s award-winning State of the River report, the Mississippi River Restoration & Resilience Initiative (MRRRI) Act they are advocating for along with the Mississippi River …