Restoration Projects

Profiles in Resilience: Biohabitats, Inc.

Profiles in Resilience: Biohabitats, Inc.

This piece builds on the “Profiles in Resilience” series started on Environmental Defense Fund’s Restoration and Resilience blog. Please check back here for future installments. By Audrey Payne, Environmental Defense Fund “Restoring the earth, one community at a time.…” This tagline appears on the website of Biohabitats, Inc., an ecologically-driven company based in Baltimore, Md. Biohabitats specializes in conservation planning, ecological restoration and regenerative design and does restoration work in the Everglades, Big Cypress and Tampa Bay, Fla.; Texas and …

The Next 50 Years: Sediment diversions as a necessary restoration tool

This is the second post in our “The Next 50 Years” Coastal Master Plan series. Check back as we continue diving into the master plan and what it means for the people and environment of the Mississippi River Delta. By Alisha A. Renfro, Ph.D., Staff Scientist, National Wildlife Federation Since 1932, coastal Louisiana has lost almost 1,900 square miles of land and if bold action is not taken, another 1,700 square miles could be lost by 2060. Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal …

The Next 50 Years

By Kevin Chandler, Communications Coordinator, Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign Last month saw the passage of Louisiana’s 2012 Coastal Master Plan. This 50-year, $50 billion blueprint for a sustainable coast represents the most ambitious effort yet to tackle Louisiana’s coastal crisis. As the plan moves from ratification to implementation, it remains as important as ever to apprehend just what the plan contains and what it means for Louisiana and the nation. Over the next several weeks, the Mississippi River Delta …

NRDA Trustees should consider long-term sustainability of wetland creation projects

By Whit Remer, Policy Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund In late April, the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Trustees finalized the first phase of projects to address Gulf Coast environmental damage caused by the 2010 oil disaster. The trustees are a group of federal and state representatives charged with overseeing environmental restoration following the oil spill. The project document, known as the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Phase I Early Restoration Plan and Environmental Assessment (ERP/EA), comes on the heels …

Coastal restoration as a climate change adaptation strategy

By Meg Sutton, Environmental Defense Fund Global climate change has induced an increase in global mean sea level with a 3.1 mm/year average rate of increase since 1991[1]. Climate projections indicate a widespread increase of more intense precipitation events, with an associated increased risk of flooding. Similarly, climate scientists also predict an increase in hurricane wind speed and total volume. The low lying, coastal Mississippi River Delta region is particularly vulnerable to the climate change threats of sea level rise, …

Getting back to nature: New study looks at the past, present and future of the Mississippi River Delta

By Alisha A. Renfro, Ph.D, Coastal Scientist, National Wildlife Federation The Mississippi River has played an important role in the history, physical and economic growth of the United States. However, the Mississippi River and the delta region it built didn’t always look the way they do today. In an article by Michael Blum, Ph.D. and Harry Roberts, Ph.D. titled “The Mississippi Delta Region: Past, Present, and Future” published in The Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences (vol. 40), researchers …

Conservation groups laud funding for restoration efforts from U.S. House

Federal funds will support critical restoration construction projects, jobs in Louisiana FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Washington, D.C. — June 1, 2012) Today, local and national conservation groups applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for approving $10 million in new funding for critical Louisiana coastal restoration projects. Passed as an amendment to the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, the measure was sponsored by Louisiana Representatives Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Cedric Richmond (D-La.) and directs $10 million to the U.S. Army Corps …

Managing the Mississippi River for ecosystem restoration, navigation and flood protection: A win-win-win

By Alisha A. Renfro, Ph.D., Coastal Scientist, National Wildlife Federation The Mississippi River is one of the largest rivers in the world, carrying water, nutrients and sediment across America’s heartland, through Louisiana and into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River Hydrodynamic and Delta Management Study is a Louisiana Coastal Area project that has recently been initiated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The purpose of this 5-year, large-scale study is to …

Take action: Help protect Louisiana's coast

By Elizabeth Skree, Environmental Defense Fund The Myrtle Grove sediment diversion is a linchpin of Louisiana’s groundbreaking plan to restore the coast and repair damage inflicted by the BP oil disaster. However, the State and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are considering permits for the construction of a massive coal export terminal right next to this critical restoration project. Allowing these permits to proceed could stop the Myrtle Grove project in its tracks. RAM Terminal, LLC has recently applied for permission to …

Christian Marsh – Be a part of Louisiana’s next restoration success story

This was originally posted on the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana‘s Coast Currents blog. By Scott Madere, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana If it’s one thing we can count on at the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), it’s the hard work and enthusiasm of our volunteers. Since our Community Based Restoration Program was created in 2000, more than 8,000 volunteers have joined us on the front lines of our coast, directly restoring 3,600 acres of wetlands. Next week marks …

Restoring the Lower 9th Ward: A resilient vision for New Orleans

This post was originally published on the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog. By Amanda Moore, National Wildlife Federation’s Coastal Louisiana Organizer in New Orleans What would you do if, in one day, you lost everything? I’m not just talking about your personal possessions; I’m talking about your entire community — your church, your grocery store, your school. The folks you meet in the video below, Warrenetta Banks and John Taylor, have lived out this scenario every day since Hurricane …

Study looks at sediment and water flow through Mississippi River, helps scientists plan effective restoration projects

By Alisha A. Renfro, Ph.D., National Wildlife Federation The sediment and water transported by the Mississippi River built much of the ecologically-rich Mississippi River Delta and Louisiana coastline. But over the last decade, manmade modifications throughout the river basin to improve navigation and flood protection have disconnected the river from its delta. This has reduced the amount of sediment carried by the river and severed the connection between the river and the adjacent wetlands it naturally built. Sediment is a …

Report: Reengineer Mississippi River Delta To Protect Nation’s Economic, Ecological Assets

Scientists call for “immediate action” to address disintegration of delta News Release (Baton Rouge, La.—April 11, 2012) Building a series of engineered structures called diversions along the lower Mississippi River will yield tens of billions of dollars in net annual benefits to the nation and hedge against future disasters, according to a new report co-authored by 22 prominent scientists and engineers. The report, “Answering 10 Fundamental Questions about the Mississippi River Delta,” makes a scientific and economic case for restoring the …

Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan moves on to state legislature for approval

By David Muth, National Wildlife Federation On March 21, Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) unanimously adopted the revised Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast, which lays out a 50-year restoration plan for Louisiana’s coast. The Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign has worked closely with the state in the development of the plan, and many of our recommendations for improving and strengthening the draft were adopted in the final version. One such recommendation made by our campaign was …

Final draft of the 2012 Coastal Master Plan approved by CPRA

This story was originally posted on the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana‘s Coast Currents blog. By Scott Madere, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana With a unanimous vote of its members, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA) approved the final draft of the 2012 Coastal Master Plan at its March 21, 2012 meeting held at the Louisiana State Archives. The completed draft represents a milestone for Louisiana: a comprehensive science-based plan for coastal restoration and protection, built to …