Sediment Diversions

The Geology of Land Building Using Mississippi River Sediment Diversions

The Geology of Land Building Using Mississippi River Sediment Diversions

This is part three of the series “Building Land in Coastal Louisiana: Expert Recommendations for Operating a Successful Sediment Diversion that Balances Ecosystem and Community Needs.” View parts one and two. Successfully operating a sediment diversion in Louisiana requires that we understand how water and sediment naturally flow in places where the river enters the coast. The basic physical processes are relatively simple. When a sediment-rich river, like the Mississippi, enters an open bay, the flow spreads out and sediments …

Exploring the Hydrodynamics of a Sediment Diversion at Mid-Barataria

This is part two of the series “Building Land in Coastal Louisiana: Expert Recommendations for Operating a Successful Sediment Diversion that Balances Ecosystem and Community Needs.” See part one here. Historically, the Mississippi River has periodically overtopped its natural levee and flooded the adjacent wetlands with sediment-laden water. This natural process has been interrupted by the construction of flood control levees, and the available sediment has been reduced by the construction of upriver reservoirs. The proposed introduction of diversions from …

Recommendations for Operating a Sediment Diversion that Balances Ecosystem and Community Needs

This is part one of the series “Building Land in Coastal Louisiana: Expert Recommendations for Operating a Successful Sediment Diversion that Balances Ecosystem and Community Needs.” This series will explore key recommendations for operating sediment diversions as outlined by the independent Sediment Diversion Operations Expert Working Group. The use of sediment diversions, a restoration tool that mimics the natural processes of the Mississippi River to build and sustain land, has been proposed for decades in coastal Louisiana. While we move …

Restoration Solutions: Sediment Diversions

The State of Louisiana is advancing two sediment diversions south of New Orleans. These projects are on track to begin construction by 2020 using funding from the BP oil spill. Multiple projects working together are needed to build and sustain land, but sediment diversions are a crucial foundation needed to confront Louisiana’s ongoing land loss crisis. Learn more about sediment diversions in the fact sheet below.    

Independent Scientists Release Recommendations for Building Land in Coastal Louisiana

Sediment Diversions Present Opportunity to Rebuild Louisiana’s Coast, Protect against Rising Seas FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jacques Hebert, jhebert@audubon.org, 504-264-6849 (New Orleans – July 21, 2016) Today, the Sediment Diversion Operations Expert Working Group – a team of leading scientists and community experts with decades of experience working in coastal Louisiana – released key recommendations for operating Mississippi River sediment diversions to most effectively build and maintain land while considering the needs of communities, wildlife and fisheries. Sediment diversions are …

Audubon Perspectives: Witnessing Land-Building in Louisiana

Originally posted by Audubon Louisiana on July 11, 2016. See original post here. Greetings! My name is Harmony Hamilton; I am Audubon Louisiana’s inaugural Walker Communications Fellow. In this role, I will be working with Audubon Louisiana staff and supporters to capture the impact the National Audubon Society and its partners are having on birds and people across Louisiana’s coast. I recently had the opportunity to visit the Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion, just a few miles south of New Orleans, to …

LPBF Launches Hydrocoast Maps to Monitor Conditions in Barataria Basin

Due to popular demand, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation has created Hydrocoast Maps for Barataria Basin.  As it has done in neighboring Pontchartrain Basin, the maps for the Barataria Basin will monitor the salinity, freshwater input, weather and fisheries in order to gain a deeper understanding of estuarine dynamics, changes to the basin over time and to provide a baseline to monitor future changes as restoration projects are completed. Hydrocoast Maps provide a snapshot of the conditions of the estuary, …

Tracking Fish with Acoustic Telemetry—Implementation of an Exciting Technology in Lake Pontchartrain

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) and many other fisheries organizations and scientists worldwide have traditionally used fish tags to keep track of fish populations. You may have even applied these simple dart-tipped plastic tags to a fish yourself. Standard fish tagging efforts (in part) identify where the fish was originally captured, Point A, and then where the fish was recaptured, Point Z. But there is not a clear picture of where these fish were for points B, …

Louisiana Wetlands: Recognizing a National Treasure During American Wetlands Month

May is American Wetlands Month, and Louisiana’s coastal wetlands are some of the most productive ecosystems in North America. Not only do they provide habitat for numerous fish, wildlife and birds, but they also help improve water quality, provide recreational opportunities and protection for people and infrastructure from damaging storm surges. Wildlife habitat and nurseries Wetlands serve as a nursery environment for juvenile fish. The countless ponds, bays and bayous found in the Mississippi River Delta provide essential habitat for …

Louisiana Legislature Passes Resolution Funding State’s 2016-2017 Coastal Activities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jimmy Frederick, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 225.317.2046, jimmy.frederick@crcl.org John Lopez, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, 504.421.7348, jlopez@saveourlake.org Louisiana Legislature Passes Resolution Funding State’s 2016-2017 Coastal Activities Resolution Directs Investment of $736 Million to Key Restoration and Protection Projects (Baton Rouge, LA– May 20, 2016) Yesterday, in a unanimous vote, the Louisiana Senate approved House …

Barrier Island Restoration: An Investment in Coastal LA’s Future and for Nesting Seabirds, Part 3

Our partners at Audubon Louisiana published a series of blog posts that we are cross-posting here. View the original blog post here. As we mark the sixth anniversary of the BP oil spill this week – an event that significantly and negatively impacted Louisiana’s already disappearing barrier islands and the species that depend on them – we will examine the status of barrier island restoration. Over the coming days, we’ll publish a series of blog posts that detail what work has …

Rebuilding after the BP Oil Spill

By our partner, National Wildlife Federation. View the original post here. Six years ago this week, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, killing 11 men and spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months. At the time, many representatives from the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition were on the ground, cataloging the impacts to wildlife and the habitats of the Gulf of Mexico. Six years later, we are still hard at work. …

Hottest Jobs in South Louisiana? Saving the Coast

Looking for the industry with the fastest growth and some of the best-paying jobs in coastal Louisiana? Saving Louisiana’s vanishing coastline is now the fastest growing industry along Louisiana’s coast, driving economic expansion and eclipsing the oil and gas sector in creating new jobs. Coastal restoration and protection is not only the biggest jobs creator in coastal Louisiana – it has some of the highest-paying jobs, averaging $69,277 per year. This hot job market is expected to get even hotter …

Mardi Gras Pass Showcases the Land-Building Power of the Mississippi River

In a stark contrast to what’s happening across the Louisiana coast, new land is forming along the east bank of the Mississippi River, 35 miles southeast of New Orleans. A new channel was opened between the Mississippi River and Breton Sound through the Bohemia Spillway. This new channel, dubbed Mardi Gras Pass, is the first distributary of the river to develop in decades. During the 1920s, the levees in the area were removed to allow fresh water to overtop the …

Mississippi River’s High Water Brings (Literally) Tons of Needed Sediment to Louisiana

This is the second in a series of blog posts focusing on the recent opening of the Bonnet Carré Spillway in response to the Mississippi River high-water event. See the first post on the history of the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) system here.  The current high-water event on the Mississippi River is sending more than one million cubic feet of water per second down the lower Mississippi River, carrying with it sediment that is an essential ingredient to restoring Louisiana’s …