Sediment Diversions

Hard Questions Remain on Stalled Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion

Hard Questions Remain on Stalled Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion

Restore the Mississippi River Delta is concerned about Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coast, and we know you are, too. We want to keep you informed of the most critical issues currently facing our coast. This blog marks the fourth in a series expressing our concerns about recent shifts in our state’s successful and popular coastal program, including changes to the structure of our coastal program, the protection of coastal funding, and implementation of cornerstone projects in our science-based Coastal Master Plan. …

Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion — What you Need to Know Now and Why

Restore the Mississippi River Delta is concerned about the state of Louisiana’s rapidly disappearing coast, and we know you are, too. We want to keep you informed of the most critical issues currently facing our coast. This post marks the third in a series expressing our concerns about recent shifts in our state’s successful and popular coastal program, including the progress of implementation of key projects in our science-based Coastal Master Plan. Recently, the Mid Barataria Sediment Diversion, a cornerstone …

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

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 = …

Upriver Diversions Can Reduce Impacts of Bonnet Carré Spillway

New research shows river diversions can restore vital wetlands and reduce impacts of Bonnet Carré Spillway openings Climate change is causing more intense rainfall across the Mississippi River Basin resulting in more river floods and more frequent use of the Bonnet Carré Spillway. The spillway is a massive flood control structure operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when the river reaches a certain flood stage to reduce pressure on the levees and prevent catastrophic flooding to more than …

The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion: Fact vs. Fiction

Skip to a section 1. CLAIM: The Mid-Barataria sediment diversion is being imposed upon residents who do not want it. 2. CLAIM: Dolphins are a “canary in a coal mine” that will become “virtually extinct” because of the diversion. 3. CLAIM: The diversion will destroy our way of life and jobs in Plaquemines Parish. 4. CLAIM: We can “dredge” our way out of our coastal land loss crisis. 5. CLAIM: “It’s not a freshwater diversion. It’s a polluted water diversion.” …

Without the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the Future for Louisiana’s Barataria Basin is Bleak

Louisiana’s land loss crisis is dire and will significantly worsen without investments in large-scale coastal restoration and protection projects. Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost 2,000 square miles of coastal wetlands. Without action, the state could lose double that amount — an additional 4,000 square miles of land – in the next 50 years. This future scenario, commonly referred to as Future Without Action (FWOA), underscores why Louisiana has literally no time to lose in constructing coastal projects that can …

Delta Dispatches – The Economics of Coastal Restoration

Welcome to Delta Dispatches, with your host Simone Maloz. Simone is joined by Dr. Robert Habans, Economist with The Data Center and Dr. Loren C. Scott, President of Dr. Loren C. Scott and Associates, Inc. to discuss new economic reports with relevance on Louisiana’s coast. Kristin Tracz, Program Officer with the Walton Family Foundation, joins as a guest co-hosts!   Listen Now:

New Study Shows Construction of Sediment Diversions Will Deliver Significant Economic Benefits

Construction will increase regional sales by $3 billion and support nearly 4,000 jobs over seven years (NEW ORLEANS, LA – Oct. 16, 2019) A new report released today by Dr. Loren C. Scott & Associates, Inc. details the regional economic impacts of building the Mid-Barataria and Mid-Breton sediment diversions. The report, “The Economic Impact of Constructing the Mid-Barataria and Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion Projects” showcases how local and state businesses, governments and residents will benefit economically during the combined seven-year period …

Maurepas Swamp Diversion Selected as Priority in Gulf Restoration Plan

Project would help sustain world-renowned swamp, provide protection for Baton Rouge and other communities (NEW ORLEANS, LA – October 9, 2019) Today the Gulf Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) announced restoration priorities to consider across the Gulf, which included investing in a critical diversion project in Louisiana’s Maurepas Swamp. The River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp project would reconnect one of the largest forested wetlands complexes in the nation with the Mississippi River to aid in preventing further wetland loss and …

5 Places in Plaquemines Parish Building Land Because of the Mississippi River

A river runs through Plaquemines Parish, but it’s not just any river. It’s one of the largest in the world – the Mighty Mississippi. The river and its distributaries built Plaquemines Parish over the last 1,000 years, depositing sediment and building thousands of acres of highly productive wetlands. Levees, built along the river for navigation and flood protection, have helped communities in the parish to flourish but have also nearly completely cut off the river from the delta it once …

A Cornerstone for Coastal Restoration: The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion

To restore Louisiana’s coast, we need a suite of large-scale restoration projects across the coast working together to deliver maximum benefits to reduce land loss, restore ecosystems, and maintain healthy and diverse habitat. In our “Restoration Project Highlights” series, we take a deeper look at specific projects from our list of Priority Projects, highlighting why they’re needed and hearing local perspectives on importance. Louisiana’s Barataria Basin has experienced some of the highest rates of land loss in the country: Between …

Plaquemines Gazette Letter to the Editor: River Diversions

This piece was originally published in the Plaquemines Gazette and has been reprinted here with permission of the owner. Please visit PlaqueminesGazette.com to subscribe and see the original article. Dear Editor, Many people today are asking questions about what river diversions will do to our coast. These questions are particularly important in Plaquemines Parish, where several of the diversions in Louisiana’s coastal Master Plan will be located. Central to the Master Plan is the idea that sending Mississippi River and …

Legal Action from the State on Mid-Barataria Delays Will Be Necessary Without Agreement

To avoid continued devastating land loss, Plaquemines Parish needs action, not politics (NEW ORLEANS – June 20, 2018)  Earlier today, Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) Board voted to proceed with legal action to ensure continued progress on the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion if the State could not come to an agreement with the Plaquemines Parish government. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, a cornerstone Master Plan coastal restoration project that has been studied for decades, is currently in Engineering & Design …

Facing Continued Land Loss, Mississippi River Delta Needs Diversions More Than Ever

MODIS Imagery of Louisiana on May 6, 2017 from Louisiana State University’s Earth Scan Laboratory (https://www.esl.lsu.edu/imagery/MODIS/2017/05/6/) showing the sediment plume from the Mississippi River. The future of the Mississippi River Delta will likely look drastically different than it does now. As sea level rise increases, we need to be smart about where and how we build land along Louisiana’s coast. A viable future for coastal Louisiana means a smaller delta, and using sediment diversions to strategically build and maintain land …