Uncategorized

Sweeping Water Bill Advances Coastal Louisiana Restoration

Sweeping Water Bill Advances Coastal Louisiana Restoration

The Water Resources Development Act: critically important legislation for Louisiana’s coast that you’ve probably never heard of By Charlotte Runzel, Policy Analyst, National Audubon Society Coastal Louisiana is facing a land loss crisis. Over thousands of years, the Mississippi River brought fresh water and sediment and built the Mississippi River Delta. Due to human alterations, stopping the transfer of these two important resources, Louisiana has lost over 1,900 square miles of land in 90 years. Far from Louisiana, lawmakers in …

A Few Ways to Support our Local Restaurants and Fishermen

The effect of this global pandemic touches each of our lives. In Louisiana, we’ve become accustomed to rallying behind our neighbors to support them during difficult times. Local restaurants and fishermen are some of the many people deeply impacted by this crisis. But some restaurants have stepped up to try to assist people within their industry, like Toups Meatery. Each day, the wonderful humans of Team Toups are providing 200 to 300 free family meals to those in need, focusing …

Update to RSS Feed

A message to our RSS subscribers: We are making a change to how our blog subscriptions are managed. Please update your RSS feed URL to: http://mississippiriverdelta.org/feed/  Please consider also following Restore the Mississippi River Delta’s work on other platforms: Sign up for our emails and action alerts Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram  Listen to our podcast

$245 Million Dedicated to Louisiana Coastal Restoration Projects

Mid-Barataria and Mid-Breton Sediment Diversions Will Receive $193 Million from NFWF (New Orleans – November 15, 2016) Today, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) approved a nearly $370 million investment in Gulf Coast restoration, with $245 million dedicated to five coastal restoration projects in Louisiana. The funding includes $193 million for the engineering and designing of two key restoration projects in Louisiana, the Mid-Barataria and Mid-Breton Sediment Diversions. In response to this announcement, Restore the Mississippi River Delta – …

Coastal Crisis, Conflicting Ideas: How a Complex Restoration Plan Found Success

This blog originally appeared on EDF Voices. Delta systems such as coastal Louisiana are beautiful and unique intersections of communities, ecosystems and industry. But the wide variety of interests in these areas can also lead to discord as we plan for the future of our often-vulnerable coastal regions. As complex restoration projects are implemented, how do we balance the needs of the ecosystem and communities? How do we reduce negative impacts to fisheries and industry, and make sure certain wildlife won’t …

CPRA Hosts Community Conversations About 2017 Coastal Master Plan

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority – in partnership with Restore or Retreat – is hosting a series of six Community Conversations during October to update residents on the 2017 Coastal Master Plan and allow attendees to give feedback that will be used in developing the draft plan, which will be released in January 2017 for formal public comment and review. Find a Community Conversation in your area: Buras: Oct. 4, Buras Community Center 36342 Highway 11, 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. RSVP here Dulac: Oct. 6, Dulac Community Center 125 Coast …

U.S. Senate Race Coastal Issues Forum

Join our partner, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, at their 2016 U.S. Senate Race Coastal Issues Forum on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 6:00pm at the LSU Union Theater in Baton Rouge. Coastal land loss is one of the most important issues facing our state, and this forum is an opportunity to hear firsthand how five candidates running for U.S. Senate plan to deal with challenges and opportunities related to coastal restoration. The candidates participating in the forum include Charles …

Louisiana Restoration and Protection Efforts Should Be Authorized by Congress

Coalition Supports U.S. House Efforts to Include Southwest Louisiana Coastal Feasibility Study in WRDA (New Orleans – Sept. 27, 2016) Language to be added to the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) to authorize a signed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief’s Report for the Southwest Coastal Louisiana Feasibility Study should be adopted, according to Restore the Mississippi River Delta – a coalition of national and statewide conservation organizations working in Louisiana. The study recommends more than $3 billion in investments …

Reconnecting the Delta: How Increased Mud Supply Can Improve Sediment Diversions

Jordan Davis, Mississippi River Delta Restoration Science Intern, Environmental Defense Fund Rising sea level and anthropogenic sediment loss is a combination affecting sustainability of deltaic ecosystems. Around the world, major deltas have been experiencing a 44% decline in sediment supply since the 1950s due to construction of dams and reservoirs, including the Mississippi River Delta. A recent journal article, published in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, examined the role of fine-grained sediments in deltaic restoration. The authors found that the …

5 Reasons Why Other States (And You!) Should Care About Louisiana’s Coastal Land Loss Crisis

By Christina Rouse, Restoration Projects Intern, Environmental Defense Fund Outside Louisiana state lines, it’s easy to feel disconnected from the Mississippi River Delta. Spatial distance lends itself to mental distance, and adopting an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude seems second-nature. While other cities and states face environmental problems of their own, make no mistake: the ecosystem services and resources produced within Louisiana provide for not only local inhabitants, but all Americans. As someone interested in environmental issues, I …

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 …

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.    

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 …

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. …