Delta Dispatches Podcast – Nonstructural Programs

Each week, Delta Dispatches, the weekly podcast from Restore the Mississippi River Delta, looks at one component of coastal restoration in Louisiana. This week, Jacquess Hebert and Simone Maloz talk about nonstructural components of the 2017 Coastal Master Plan.

The term “nonstructural” originated because nonstructural storm protection is considered the alternative to traditional structural flood protection (i.e. levees). Structural measures control water and keep it out or away from an area, while nonstructural measures accommodate water and make buildings and infrastructure more adaptable and resilient to water.

Featured guests include Andrea Galinski, a Coastal Resources Scientist with the Coastal Protection & Restoration Authority, Liz Williams, Coastal Communities Resiliency Program Officer with the Foundation for Louisiana and Jimmy Frederick, Communications Director of Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.

Below is a transcript of this week’s Delta Dispatches podcast. Listen to the full recording here or subscribe to our feed in iTunes and Google Play.

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Jacques: Hello, you’re listening to Delta Dispatches. We’re discussing Louisianan’s coast, it’s people, wildlife, and jobs and why restoring it matters. This is Jacques Hebert and I’m excited to have my partner in crime Simone Theriot Maloz, back from DC. How’s it going Simone?

Simone: Hey, did you miss me?

Jacques: I did miss you. How’s our nation’s capital?

Simone: It was still there when I left, so that’s a good sign. How did you do without me? What did y’all talk about?

Jacques: You know, it was really painful, I of course missed you, but we managed. We had a really great show on the wildlife that depends on Louisiana’s coast. So we’re glad to have you back and what are we talking about today?

Simone: So today we’re going to talk about a feature of the Master Plan called nonstructural. So I’m going to have some folks help us out with the state’s Master Plan, talk about it from their perspective, and then we’re going to have some friends come in with a new effort that hopes to take the fall from CTRA and carry it forward. So hopefully I can catch your wildlife podcast online, and then if you can’t hear all of us today, or want to hear us again, you can hear it online. Right, Jacques?

Jacques: Absolutely, just go to mississippiriverdelta.org/deltadispatches and you can subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and Google Play, catch up on old episodes, and share them.

Obviously today’s topic is really important to a lot of people that are living in or working in the coast of Louisiana. How do we make them more safe in the future given the challenges we’ve discussed in previous episodes. You’re going to talk to an expert in the first two segments and then I’ll talk to someone in the third, and then we’ll have one of our partners on in the fourth. I will let you take it away from here and yeah, looking forward to this episode.

Simone: Thanks Jacques, I’ll talk to you in a little bit.

Today we’re happy to be joined by another member of the CPRA Master Plan team, Andrea Galinski joins us by phone from Baton Rouge. Andrea has worked on the Master Plan team for a while now, but she’s a veteran at the Master Plan team, but she’s also a coastal scientist and she’s in charge of a lot of cool visual things. Thank you for being with us today, we very much appreciate you joining us.

Andrea: Thank you Simone, I’m happy to be here.

Simone: So I know you because I’ve been lucky to work with you on plans like the Flood Risk and Resilience plan. Why don’t you tell our audience a little bit about yourself.

Andrea: Sure. I’m Andrea Galinski and I’ve worked at CPRA for a little bit over five years now. My work has really focused on this nonstructural planning and the development of the Flood Risk and Resilience program. I’m also involved in some of CPRA’s outreach and engagement activities as well. Before we get started I just wanted to give a shout out to you, the host Simone, you and Restore or Retreat and Jacques with Restore the Mississippi River Delta. You’ve both been really great supporters of CPRA’s work.

Simone, you in particular, have worked with us for a while, you’ve been involved on our framework development team, you were involved on a working group that helped to create the Master Plan Data Viewer, which is such a great tool, you are involved with our Flood Risk and Resilience program stake holder group, and not last but least, you have been a wonderful host for a series of community conversations which has really helped our agency be able to reach out and share our plan with more coastal Louisiana residents. We really appreciate all your work.

Simone: Well, thank you. It’s actually easy to partner with somebody that I work so well with, and I think we’re both passionate about the same issues. We had planned on and we talked a little bit about Master Plan in general and we also talked about diversion, but this is what we want to talk to you about today, it’s a little different piece of this puzzle. Sometime people call it nonstructural, CPRA calls it here Flood Risk and Resilience program. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about what that means to you and what that Flood Risk and Resilience program looks like.

Andrea: Sure, so CPRA is really focused on developing a comprehensive plan that considers those restoration and risk reductions. The Flood Risk and Resilience program in particular is really looking at how do we reduce the flood impacts to Louisiana coastal communities and specifically the impacts of coastal storm surge. This type of work can be seen as strong compliment to levees and other structural protection measures. It’s a little bit different in the sense that, instead of stopping the flood water, nonstructural projects aim to reduce the impacts of flooding to building and infrastructure.

Simone: So this may sound new to a lot of people and its part of the safe Master Plan, but this isn’t new at all is it Andrea?

Andrea: No. We are just basically carrying on a tradition that’s been going on for quite some time in coastal Louisiana. Throughout our history people have been living in their local environment, building to the local environment. CPRA in particular, has introduced this type of plan in the 2012 Coastal Master Plan, but we’ve really done some work to advance the program for the 2017 Coastal Master Plan. We’re really proud of how we’ve been able first, improve some of the risk modeling and get a much better sense of what potential flood risk this coast faces today, as well as in the future. We’ve also been focused on refining some of the various nonstructural projects that we’re recommending, and we’re focusing on the areas of highest risk. Also we have, as a state agency, really been working on furthering planning initiatives with other state agencies and local perishes through various groups. Lastly I’d say we are also really emphasizing local communities more. In particular, we want to emphasis the low to moderate income households, that should be prioritized in the states nonstructural project approach.

Simone: So, I guess from our point of view, we definitely see the nonstructural Flood Risk and Resilience piece of the Master Plan that has been the most advanced piece in general, so we want to compliment you on your work there. There has been a lot, a lot, of detailed work and thought put into that, so we are trying to thank you. That’s some really great work there.

 Let’s talk a little bit about the Flood Risk and Resilience Viewer, that’s a really cool tool.

Andrea: It is. This is one of the elements that we’re most excited about. This is an interactive viewer where anyone can go and you can type in your address and you can get various information at your location. You can get the flood risk that you face today as well as in the future, you can learn more about the Master Plan projects that are recommended in your area, and you can also get different resources to reduce your own risk as a homeowner, or property owner.

Simone: And that actually is populated with current data right? I mean that was something updated in conjunction with the Master Plan, correct?

Andrea: Correct. So this viewer had initially been created in 2012 and then we updated it to include all of the new data that is being produced as part of the 2017 Coastal Master Plan. You’ll see some of the same type of data that we’ve had in the past such as the land teams data, or the flood risk data, or the economic damage data, but you’ll also see some new information such as the coastal vegetation. So it’s a really great resource that residents can take a look at. You can explore these different types of data sets by some various environmental scenarios, Because we don’t really know what exactly the future will bring. The coastal master plan process takes into account 3 different environmental scenarios, we call it low, medium, and high. You can look at the landscape with the Coastal Master Plan as well as without Coastal Master Plan and you can look at various periods of time from today up to 50 years into the future. I’ll just make one note that be projects that are displayed currently on the viewer, those are all the projects that are recommended by the dropped Coastal Master Plan. Those will be updated in the coming weeks as the final plan is approved by the legislature.

Simone: Also, do you want to talk a little bit more about that out viewer when we come back, and a little bit more about some resources that might be available. So we’ll be back in just a little bit.

 Welcome back to Delta Dispatches this is Simone Maloz with Restore or Retreat, and we’re discussing Louisiana’s coast, its people, wildlife, and jobs, and why restoring it matters. I have Andrea Galinski on the phone from the CPRA and the state’s Master Plan Team, and were talking about Flood Risk and Resiliency program at the CPRA. So welcome back thank you for staying with us.

I do have a fun question just to start off this segment. What it is harder for you the kids or your chickens? Be honest Andrea, be honest. 

Andrea: I’d have to say the kids. The chickens are actually no longer with us, we’ve had a fox actually.

Simone: Oh my, circle of life.

Andrea: It’s just the kids right now.

Simone: I just wanted to finish up what we were saying about the Flood Risk and Resiliency viewer. I just want to stress that it is an amazing tool that the CPRA sought to develop to get people information in a way that they really understand and a platform that they’re used to. It is literally as easy as to go the website and to type in your address, your mama’s address, your ex boyfriends address, to try to figure out their flood risk now and into the future, but also helpful information about Master Plan projects planned for their area. There’s even a section on there for resources too.

So Andrea do you want to talk a little bit more about that resources section? You don’t just give the information, you do try to help and guide them to some resources available and then the parishes themselves that the residents are in, they can also be resources correct?

Andrea: Sure. We have a series of other resources that, if you are at risk and you feel like you want to learn more, you can look up different documents from different state and federal agencies FEMA, LSU AG center, CPRA has also worked to consolidate a lot of information about other federal grant programs that are available. We have a pocket funding guide for homeowners that gives people just a sort of brief overview of the various grant programs that are currently out there and the various requirements of them, and how they can learn more information.

Simone: And the parishes do a lot of this work on themselves right? So CPRA helped create this this framework for the entire coast so that parishes looked at these things fairly and evenly, but a lot of the work really does happen on the parish level correct?

Andrea: Right, that’s exactly true. The CPRA’s intent was really to take a coast wide approach, but we know that it’s really the local parishes who have the knowledge and the experience to know what their local communities need the most. So for instance, CPRA might provide some general nonstructural project recommendations, and I actually don’t think I’ve gone into any detail more about what that is. So when CPRA says nonstructural project recommendations that could include a couple different things. First it could be elevations for a residential property, it could also be flood proofing for nonresidential properties.

Simone: So businesses, right?

Andrea: Right, Just like a business. Then we also consider voluntary acquisition for other residential properties. I’ll just note, that all of the projects are 100% voluntary in nature. CPRA would recommend a certain project that may include you know the elevation of 50 structures, or 500 structures, or 1000 structures, but then it’s really on to the parish, who then refine this recommendation and would determine the specific structures to be mitigated.

 So CPRA doesn’t have a list of structures

Simone: No list of addresses right Andrea?

Andrea: Exactly. So we just have to aggregate counted structures. Then in the future, depending upon the type of funding that is available and how much funding is available, the perishes then take the next step to sort of refine those recommendations. We are encouraging them to really take into consideration the needs of the low to moderate income properties first, and then they consider properties that are primary residences. Can certain properties be grouped together so you have an area that’s really contiguous seamless and you’re taking a holistic neighborhood approach, and then if I have any other local community considerations.

Simone: Yeah, so for example, I think you’re very familiar with the part of the world that I grew up in, but Terrebonne does a lot of home elevations and this is just to do it, like I said set up a framework so that neighboring parishes can be similar to Terrebonne and think about priority areas and priority projects, so that if and when funding does become available, they already have that jump start. They’re not spinning their wheels doing some planning they already have some areas identified, even worked out a few of the processes like considering low to moderate income first. There are  great parishes like Terrebonne and Jefferson and some others don’t have as much experience and so this is all to try to create a framework to bring everybody up to even levels.

Andrea: Exactly. So CRPA is really trying to present that framework and give our recommendations to the parishes, and we would also supply them with any data that’s produced as part of the Coastal Master Plan effort. So we try to give them our flood depth data, our economic damage data, so that they can take that into account as they’re developing a more defined list that really meets their needs, because they’re the ones that really know what structures they also think should be a priority in the local area.

Simone: Right that’s a good point, and that information is important too because y’all mine so much data, y’all talk to parishes, y’all talk to floodplain managers, y’all used all that information to inform the program work and the Master Plan. So you want to be able to give that to other people and I think y’all did the same with the Office of Community Development, on the state agency, as they worked on a grant program correct? Y’all gave them some of the information that y’all had used in the Master Plan to help them with some grant work.

Andrea: Yeah. So we are really trying to leverage the data that CPRA has produced. We have helped OCD by giving them our flood risk data and our overall nonstructural project recommendations and framework, and they’ve been able to intern build upon that and get grants saved for the LA Safe Project, so that the state of Louisiana can really take an integrated approach where the agencies are all working together and we’re hearing data and we’re collaborating in communicating.

Simone: That’s really good to hear about working together. We worked so much with the CPRA, it’s glad to know that there’s other state agencies working together. I think you mentioned in the beginning there are similar working groups, advisory groups, and stakeholder groups that also work together on both issues and y’all have been able to marry those 2 issues together. So again our compliments to you on advancing this, we look forward to following this development of this project between CPRA and The Office of Community Development. We want to keep helping you advance this program because if it’s important.

 We have to wrap up this segment. We are so grateful for you and your participation. There is some information available on the CPRA website right Andrea? There’s some additional resources through your appendices on the Master Plan?

Andrea: Yes. So if your listeners are interested in learning more about the 2017 Coastal Master Plan, they can check out our website at Coastal.LA.gov, and at this website there’s lots of great material here, we have our planned document, we have brochures, we have material translated into French, Spanish, and Vietnamese, so thank you Simone for help with that. We have our Flood Risk and Resilience program specific appendix, that’s appendix E, we have lots of appendices so you have to scroll down to get about one.

Simone: That’s also good night time reading.

Andrea: I just want to make one more plug for the Master Plan Data Viewer, I don’t think we actually mentioned the website it’s cims.coastal.la.gov/MasterPlan.

Simone: Awesome, thank you so much for being with us today, we greatly appreciate it. We hope to have you on again soon.

Andrea: Great, thank you so much.

Jacques: Welcome back to Delta Dispatches, this is Jacques Hebert, and we are talking about nonstructural and home safety topics in relation to future environmental risks. Before the break, in case you missed it, Simone spoke with Andrea Galinski with CPRA, about resources that they’ve provided, information they’re providing homeowners and businesses to better understand their future flood risks and measures they can take to reduce those risks.

 So I’m really excited to have our next guest on the show, Liz Williams is a Coastal Communities Resilience Program Officer with the Foundation for Louisiana, she’s deeply involved and a recently launched program LA safe otherwise known as Louisiana’s strategic adaptation for future environments. Welcome to the show Liz.

Liz: Thank you so much, I appreciate you guys having me.

Jacques: Absolutely. So Liz I know you’ve been busy, you’ve been having a lot of community meetings about this program, the governor announced it officially I believe and in March, so can you give our listeners a little bit of an overview of LA Safe and what it hopes to achieve?

Liz: Absolutely. So this program is actually an opportunity to more deeply engaged with the resident of the Louisiana in a design plan and sort of build process, where residents opinions about how they would like to adapt to these challenges of coastal land laws and opportunities that we’re seeing as the coast shifts, also Where can resident be involved in that process.

So through that were also seeing we’re really focused on a deeper understanding within our culture residents about the risks that we face and the natural processes of the delta system that have really like some of those risks and opportunities to restore the coast, as well as acknowledging restoration, protection, and adaptation as a three legged stool. We’ve spent a lot of time over the years investigating projects and possibilities for both restoration and protection, but we haven’t yet bent a huge amount of time thinking holistically about how communities might adapt and about how those environmental challenges really heighten our existing socioeconomic stresses. So LA Safe provides an opportunity for us to begin working with residents and actually planning for how we’d like to respond to those challenges.

Jacques: You know that’s really great that you all are taking this on, it’s such a hugely important issue. So many of us have been affected by hurricanes and other storms and we’ve had folks on the show already that have talked about the massive changes they’re seeing to the landscape into the coast in their lifetimes,  which obviously has made us all at greater risk for future flooding and future storms. I know you’re starting kind of with 6 specific parishes that you’re targeting this program for, what are those parishes and can you talk a little bit about why you selected those as a starting point?

Liz: Absolutely. So these six parishes are actually eligible for certain federal dollars that are coming down through the state’s Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery unit, these dollars were part of the National Disaster Resilience competition, where these 6 parishes were actually eligible for funding because of remaining unmet needs from Hurricane Isaac. So these communities and these six parishes were not able to sort of fully get back on their feet after those storms with the resources are allocated. So the state actually won a competition, was I think 5^th in the nation and ended up winning $92.6 million dollars for 2 projects. One being the $40 million dollars allocated for the LA Safe Program. So these parishes are eligible for those federal dollars because of remaining unmet needs from Hurricane Isaac, and so these dollars were actually awarded through the National Disaster Resilience competition.

Jacques: That’s great. We’re actually going to have some folks, some resilience experts, on the show next week from New Orleans. I know that you know New Orleans specifically got some funding from this competition, so it’ll be a great follow up to our conversation.

So Liz, I know these are obviously really difficult conversations to have, I mean my family lived in Plaquemines Parish for a while, were affected by storms and eventually decided “We’ve had enough” and they moved on further north. So it’s never something that’s an easy conversation to have, to think about the future, to think about you know relocating, or potential future challenges. I know you just wrapped up last night, really in depth comprehensive community meetings across six coastal areas, where you were having some of these conversations. Can you talk a little bit about what those conversations were like, how were the community members responding?

Liz: Absolutely. So these conversations are challenging, they’re emotional, they’re passionate, the people of Louisiana love the coast, that’s why we live here, and so talking about the very real risks that we’re facing and how those risks might increase over time is continually a challenging conversation at every level, but we have to be straight forward and honest about what those risks and realities are and what the projections for the future are. We have to look to generations back and understand how we got here historically, but we also have to look forward and think about the opportunities here, think about those coming generations and how we can build up on those opportunities now by actually addressing them and thinking strategically about the ways that they are impacting our communities.

The conversations have been very engaging the residence, although at this point we’re not yet talking about what projects might be or what programs or policies might actually come from this, we’re really at an establishing goals and values across those communities and those six parishes. Residents are really interested to think about where the more traditional ways of thinking about reducing risk can also begin to encompass where their communities might see increase job opportunities, or better transportation, really maintaining the quality of life, that is why they live there. I’ll also mention, for many of these communities the reality is that, the people who are making the decisions to move are the people who can afford to make that decision in many cases and lots of folks just want to stay where they are. What we are seeing is that their income levels and poverty rates, income is shifting according to where those populations are also changing. So it’s critical for us to incorporate those communities that have seen disinvestment already and been marginalized, and think about where they’re coming from but also in that same holistic consideration think about where they’re going to and whether that adapting in place or shifting over time. We have to be strategic and have those honest conversations.

Jacques: That’s absolutely right. Not everyone has those resources to be able to just move after a storm like that or to rebuild in full or elevate their homes, so those conversations are hugely important. Can you talk a little bit about the co design process that you all are using for this program, you know why it’s significant? It is something that is very cutting edge in a lot of ways.

Liz: Yeah. So the co design processes comprised of four components, continual cycle of research and analysis and outreach engagement that feeds back in on itself. So as we have new and advanced information, how do we incorporate that new data? How to incorporate the community needs through that engagement process and what those community goals and values are? What residents actually wanted be in the places that they live? How does not feedback in on itself so with that we can constantly reach out to more people and actually reach people where they are instead of only asking them to come to us? How do we latch into the things that people love here in Louisiana and really talk about these risks?

You know we often think of the coast as out there in some places. We think of these issues of environmental run but these strings are affecting so many aspects of our lives and we see how our tax bases change, we see those resources affect education and healthcare and infrastructure. So the co design process, at every level, has to incorporate the way environmental strains and stresses, whether they’re acute significant events, like a major storm, or whether they’re chronic, like the daily land loss that causes your street to flood on a Tuesday because you got a south wind blowing. We have to incorporate all of those facets and be able to learn more and move on to the next step in a iterative manner that allows us to grow with all of that new information and new input from communities. It really values the thought leadership that we’re finding across our coastal communities.

Jacques: You know that’s great Liz. If you don’t mind, would you mind coming back after the break? I have a few more questions that I think our listeners would really like to know more about, but in the meantime where can people go if they want to learn more about LA Safe?

Liz: Absolutely, I would love to come back. Please check out the website for the project it’s at LASafe.LA.gov and you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter to find out about the most up to date information, how to get involved in the process, and new and relevant things that might be incorporated.

Jacques: Great and when I said come back I meant right now. So we’re going to take a short break and then we’re gonna talk to you some more right after, but as a reminder if you want to learn more about the LA Safe program go to lasafe.la.gov and we’ll be right back with Liz Williams after a short break.

Jacques: Welcome back to Delta Dispatches. This is Jacques Hebert and for those of you just joining us, we are talking about nonstructural work and work to make communities more resilient in the face future environmental threats. We’re joined now by Liz Williams who is the coastal communities resilience program officer with Foundation for Louisiana. She’s deeply involved in the recently launched LA Safe Program. Liz,  welcome back. We were talking a little bit before the break about some of the work you all have done to date in terms of launching this program. Obviously you’ve have gathered a ton of information and data you’ve been in these communities, having conversations, getting input from the community members themselves.

So moving forward, what are some of the immediate next steps for LA Safe?

Liz: So the next step is the last round of meetings, residents have identified where in their parishes they think we need to take deeper dives and have more specific conversation in certain communities. In each of these parishes we actually see communities that are maybe on higher, safer ground that are seeing their populations grow, and we see communities that are in those more low lying areas that are seeing the land wash away next door and actually seeing people migrate and that’s a kind of gradient. So residents have actually identified where the next round of meetings needs to be held and so we’re gathering all of that input and we’ll be putting out soon, the most up to date information on where we’re going to be having those next rounds of meetings. They’re going to be smaller meetings in our coastal communities, that reach back into that parish level and extend to the broader region.

Great and if someone maybe listening that is in one of these parishes, they want to learn more or get involved, how can people get involved in this initiative?

So the foundation is actually providing guidance for residents to participate as table host or as facilitators in these conversations. We’re going to see the opportunity for more and more residents to be involved even as presenters and leaders in the conversation, because the reality is that residents most of the time we hear that they want to hear this information for people they are you know and trust, their family, their friends, their neighbors, their colleagues. So for residents who want to be more involved, we do encourage you to go to the website lasafe.la.gov you can click how you want to be involved, do you want to  host a meeting, do you want to be a table host? We’re actually providing those workshops to make sure that resident have that training to be able to guide these conversations and I lead their communities and their existing local networks in how they’d like to adapt to these increasing risks.

Jacques: That’s great. In terms of getting the knowledge from the communities themselves having active participation, obviously that goes a long way. One of the things people are thinking about too is you don’t often realize … I mean we all hold our collective breaths between the months of June and I guess October, during hurricane season, but some of these communities and individuals are at risk throughout the year from just coastal flooding, is that correct?

Liz: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Again it looks different in different places and different communities across these parishes, but there are communities that we’re working with that are having to go around and have a caravan of people, pulling people from their homes because of flood waters coming in just on a sunny day from a south wind, because of that subsidence rates and seeing that water reach further in. So there are obviously different events that are more catastrophic for larger amounts of people, but we still see those attacks on a daily basis.

Jacques: Great. Again, the no one size fits all approach is so important and that’s why you are going into these individual parishes and communities and finding from out from residents what their needs are. So in terms of where people can go again to learn more just as a reminder, what is the website and where can people go to get more information?

Liz: Go to lasafe.la.gov and you can find out lots of information about the process. We’re actually also going to be uploading the presentations of all sorts of activities that residents have participated in. Also follow us on Facebook and Twitter, so that you can actually find out up to date information on what the newest releases are as well as relevant pieces that may be connected to this work.

Jacques: Great and thank you so much Liz for being on the show, we hope to have you back on again as you continue your work and as the program evolves.

Liz: Thank you so much for having me.

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Jacques: Yeah.

Simone: Hey Jacqamo.

Jacques: Hey Simone, welcome back. So now we have one of our partners Jimmy Frederick, whose communications director with the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, joining us and since he’s part of our family, Simone and I are gonna both interview him. How’s it going Jimmy?

Jimmy: How are you Jacques and Simone? Such a pleasure to be with you guys this afternoon.

Jacques: We’re doing well, how are you?

Jimmy: I’m doing fine. I’ve got a 2 year old on my leg, so I apologize if you hear screaming.

Simone: I feel that way about Jacques sometimes, he often misbehaves.

Jimmy: Understood.

Simone: So tell us a little bit more about your event tomorrow night.

Jimmy: Well you know it is so apropos that you are the one talking to me right now.

Simone: It was the leading question; it was a leading question.

Jimmy: You are one of the luminaries that we’re going to be honoring tomorrow as our coastal champions for our 22nd Annual Coastal Stewardship Awards in Baton Rouge. One we really are thankful that you’re going to be there and that you’re one folks who were selected to receive one of our awards. We’ve got four coastal stewardship awards that we’re going to be giving out not just to you, but also to Ted and Joanna  from the southwestern part of the state, Doctor Edward Overton from LSU, Phil Precht and also of course you. It’s really going to be a great event. It’s the 22nd time that CRCL has done this and it really is an opportunity for us to really celebrate all the hard work that so many people do, and I know you will be the first to say that it’s not an individual awarded to actual organizational award, it’s an award that goes to so many people that are involved in and what you do and what we all do, in costal restoration and so this is an opportunity for us to really celebrate all the things that are happening in coastal restoration and I’m really excited about it.

Jacques: Jimmy, speaking of accomplishments and impact on coastal restoration, I know the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, which you’re a member or you work for, has been around since 1988 working on these issues, can you give our listeners a little bit of an overview of the work you do from oyster shell recycling, to planning and other initiative?

Jimmy: Absolutely, Jacques. Mentioning the 1988 part, I mean we’ve been around, CRCL, The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana has been around really before coastal restoration was a thing. We really kind of, as an organization, got it started and one of things we are going to be doing tomorrow night is honoring one of our founding members for a lifetime achievement award, Rob Gorman. With that said, we really do a lot of things. We have a 3 pronged approach and the fact that we’ve push science based action to rebuild coastal Louisiana through outreach restoration and advocacy, and it’s really important about the restoration part because we bring volunteers out into the marsh, with our habitat restoration program and with our oyster shell recycling program, to let people not just be a part of restoration but also to get out and see that the differences and see the fact that are coast is disappearing. We can get out there and bring … We’ve brought thousands of volunteers out over the years, and really make a difference through our plantings, we do beach plantings, and marsh grass plantings, matter of fact we have one coming up on April 22, fresh water view vermilion parish, which if anybody would like to be involved with we very much appreciate. All you have to do is go to our calendar section on CRCL.org.

Jacques: Jimmy, we really want to have you back on the show to get into a lot of detail about your amazing oysters shell recycling …

Simone: but we have to go. I have to go get my hair done for tomorrow.

Jacques: Simone has to get ready.

Simone: It takes a while Jimmy, you can appreciate that.

Jacques: But we will certainly have you on again because there’s a lot of topics we can get into about all the great work that CRCL is doing. For now you can go on to CRCL.org to learn more about the organization. Congrats to Simone, have a wonderful night tomorrow. Thank you all for joining us. Next week we’re going to be talking about the coast in New Orleans. This is Delta Dispatches.