Funding & Policy

Conservation Groups Commemorate Katrina Anniversary by Urging President to Prioritize Restoration

Conservation Groups Commemorate Katrina Anniversary by Urging President to Prioritize Restoration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Jimmy Frederick, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.767.4181, jimmy.frederick@crcl.org John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504.421.7348, jlopez@saveourlake.org Conservation Groups Commemorate Katrina Anniversary by Urging President Obama to Prioritize Restoration  Coastal Restoration Is Key to City’s Long-Term Resiliency, and Administration Has Opportunities to Advance Efforts (NEW ORLEANS, LA—Aug. 26, 2015) As President Obama and …

The History of Coastal Restoration in Louisiana: More than 40 years of planning

By Estelle Robichaux, Restoration Project Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund and Gaby Garcia, Science Intern, Environmental Defense Fund The damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, which made landfall in Louisiana’s bird’s foot delta nearly 10 years ago, brought regional and national attention to the state’s dramatic and ongoing coastal land loss crisis. But this crisis, as well as innovative and large-scale solutions to reverse wetland loss, had been studied, discussed and planned by scientists and decision-makers for decades. In a series of …

RESTORE Council Releases Priority List of Gulf Restoration Projects for Funding

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Rachel Guillory, Ocean Conservancy, 504.208.5816, rguillory@oceanconservancy.org Andrew Blejwas, The Nature Conservancy, 617.785.7047, ablejwas@tnc.org Jimmy Frederick, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.317.2046, jimmy.frederick@crcl.org John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504.421.7348, johnlopez@pobox.com   RESTORE Council Releases Priority List of Gulf Restoration Projects for Funding National and Local Conservation Groups Call List Positive Step Forward; Tremendous …

A Decade after Katrina, Groups Issue Recommendations for Community Protection, Restoration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:               Samantha Carter, National Wildlife Federation, 504.264.6831, carters@nwf.org Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Raleigh Hoke, Gulf Restoration Network, 573.795.1916, raleigh@healthygulf.org A Resilient, Sustainable New Orleans A Decade after Katrina, Groups Issue Recommendations for Community Protection, Restoration (New Orleans – August 11, 2015) To commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a coalition of local community and conservation advocacy groups working to restore wetlands around the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) released a …

Boil for the Bayou

By Matthew Phillips, Mississippi River Delta Coalition On August 1st, the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign hosted Boil for the Bayou, a coastal restoration expo at Bayou Barriere Golf Course in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. Our inimitable Plaquemines Parish Outreach Coordinator, Philip Russo, planned and coordinated the event for months. In a state with the highest rate of land loss in the contiguous U.S., Plaquemines Parish stands out. Louisiana has lost 25% of its coastal wetlands, and Plaquemines has lost the …

Vote Now: Which Coastal Restoration Slogan Should Appear on Dirty Coast Products?

Earlier this month, we put out a call for coastal restoration slogans that could be made into a design to be featured on Dirty Coast t-shirts and other products. We received an overwhelming response of more than 200 highly-creative submissions, making our job of selecting which to feature extremely difficult. So much so that we chose five finalists instead of the originally planned three. They are:  The World Needs More Louisiana Greaux the Delta, Greaux Our Home Save the Boot Let …

Ten Years after Katrina, What the BP Settlement Means for Louisiana Restoration

By Steve Cochran, Director, Mississippi River Delta Restoration Program, Environmental Defense Fund Ten years ago, just after Hurricane Katrina, I was asked to talk to Environmental Defense Fund’s board about the place where I grew up, the New Orleans area that had been hit so hard. I remember two things about that discussion. One was my voice breaking unexpectedly (and embarrassingly) as we talked through pictures of the Katrina aftermath and came across places I intimately knew. As an adult, I …

Lower 9th Ward CSED Creates Environmental Learning & Research Center

By Rachel Pickens, Esq., Resiliency Manager for Coastal Outreach & Community Awareness, Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development “River to the Bayou” is a phrase often spoken by members the Lower 9th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED). When CSED was created in December 2006 by Pam Dashiell and Charles Allen, they envisioned rebuilding a more resilient neighborhood, one that stretches from the Mississippi River to Bayou Bienvenue. Learning from Katrina, they realized that resilience …

We're Partnering with Dirty Coast to Feature YOUR Coastal Restoration Message!

As we approach the 10th anniversaries of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita – a time when we all learned about the importance of the Louisiana coast as a first line of defense against storms – Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition and Dirty Coast are partnering to feature YOUR coastal restoration messages on t-shirts, bags, posters and other snazzy products that will be sold in Dirty Coast’s New Orleans stores and across the web to help raise awareness and support for Louisiana coastal restoration. Louisiana …

Deepwater Horizon Settlement – Some Answers, New Questions

This information was originally posted on the Environmental Law Institute’s website.  By ELI Gulf Team On July 2, 2015, a monumental announcement was made: an agreement in principle has been reached to settle all federal and state claims against BP arising from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill for $18.732 billion (see BP’s press release here). This amount includes:   While we are still waiting on the exact details of the settlement, we do know some of the terms. We will focus on …

Gulf Restoration Groups Ready to Put Billions to Work to Bring Back Gulf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Rachel Guillory, Ocean Conservancy, 504.208.5816, rguillory@oceanconservancy.org Andrew Blejwas, The Nature Conservancy, 617.785.7047, ablejwas@tnc.org Jimmy Frederick, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.317.2046, jimmy.frederick@crcl.org John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504.421.7348, johnlopez@pobox.com Gulf Restoration Groups Ready to Put Billions to Work to Bring Back Gulf Region’s economy and well-being are based on strong, resilient ecosystem …

2015 Louisiana Legislative Session: Coastal Wrap-Up

By Cynthia Duet, Deputy Director, Audubon Louisiana The 2015 session of the Louisiana Legislature has come to a close. Although the last two months have been filled with difficult decisions for lawmakers trying to balance the state budget during this important fiscal session, bills related to coastal restoration projects, programs and funding remained the primary focus of Mississippi River Delta Coalition policy staff. The Louisiana Legislature demonstrated continued commitment to coastal restoration and protection issues by passing HCR1 –  the resolution …

TEDxNewOrleans: Examining Recovery and Resiliency in New Orleans 10 Years Post-Katrina

  This Tuesday a group of nearly 200 people gathered at the Peoples Health New Orleans Jazz Market for a day of talks from a variety of community and business leaders, artists, academics and others as part of the first-ever TedxNewOrleans. While the perspective of each talk varied, resilience and recovery of Greater New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina served as a unifying theme. The talks were spirited, inspirational and truly painted a picture that New Orleans “didn’t just come back, …

Opening of Hurricane Season a Timely Reminder of Urgent Need for Coastal Restoration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Jimmy Frederick, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.317.2046, jimmy.frederick@crcl.org Opening of Hurricane Season a Timely Reminder of Urgent Need for Coastal Restoration Leading conservation groups call for action as storm season commences (New Orleans, LA—May 28, 2015) Prior to the June 1 start of the 2015 Atlantic hurricane season, national and local conservation groups working …

Conservation Groups Commend Congressional Funding of Louisiana Coastal Restoration Projects

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Conservation Groups Commend Congressional Funding of Louisiana Coastal Restoration Projects Funding will help advance crucial, long-needed Louisiana coastal restoration efforts (Washington, D.C.—May 21, 2015) Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations included critical funding for the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Program in its Fiscal Year 2016 (FY 16) Energy and Water Development Appropriations …