Coastal Latest & Greatest: 300 Students, 100 Million Birds, and a Really Muddy River

A weekly round-up of what’s new in Louisiana coastal restoration

1) 300 students. Jimmy Frederick talks to WAFB about the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana’s new “The 300” program in the report, “Students ‘get their feet wet’ at new coastal restoration center.”

The program description states, “The 300 will inspire our next generation of coastal warriors, and may even encourage some participating students to pursue the coastal sciences in their post-secondary education. Others may be inspired to seek professional opportunities to protect and restore our coast.”

Learn more about CRCL’s The 300 program here.

WAFB 9 News Baton Rouge, Louisiana News, Weather, Sports

2) 100 million birds. Audubon Louisiana’s Executive Director, Karen Profita, writes a compelling letter to the editor, “Letters: Help rebuild La. Coastline,” in The Advocate about the need to put our sediment-rich river to work restoring our coast not only for our communities, but for the 100 million birds that depend on a healthy Mississippi River Delta every year.

For more information on how restoration projects can benefit our feathered friends, see our blog post, “Barrier Islands: A Critical Restoration Project for People and Birds.”

3) 100 million tons of sediment. The New York Times ran a Letter to the Editor by our own Kimberly Davis Reyher this week in response to the recent “Our Drowning Coast” partnership. Kim writes, “Louisiana has the mighty muddy Mississippi and nearly 100 million tons of sediment at our disposal annually. We are working to use the river to put sediment back into the starving wetlands that desperately need it.”

ICYMI: The Bonnet Carré Spillway has been opened to divert flood waters coming down the Mississippi River. Along with water, the spillway is diverting tons of precious, land-building sediment into Lake Pontchartrain and away from our degrading wetlands. We must put this sediment to work rebuilding our coast through engineered sediment diversions! Learn more about Bonnet Carré and the need for diversions The Advocate’s article, “As sediment flows across Bonnet Carré, groups advocate for coast-building projects.”