Belle Pass-Golden Meadow Marsh Creation

The Belle Pass-Golden Meadow Marsh Creation project will create approximately 29,000 acres of marsh in the Terrebonne Basin. This project will be located along both sides of Bayon Lafourche from just south of Galliano, through Leeville and down to Port Fourchon. Like much of Louisiana’s coast, this sediment starved stretch of Terrebonne Basin has seen significant wetland loss due to many existing factors including sea level rise, subsidence, and saltwater intrusion, which were compounded by the devastation of Hurricane Ida in 2021.

The project, stretching from Belle Pass to Golden Meadow, will create new wetland habitat, restore degraded marsh and reduce wave erosion.

This project will help to replenish the devastated region still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Ida, which made landfall at nearby Port Fourchon with storm surge as high as 14 feet and winds at a sustained speed of 140 miles per hour. The newly generated marshland will play a pivotal role in safeguarding the area against potential future storm surge, wave energy and flooding.

Marsh creation projects like this use sediment from nearby water bottoms or offshore shoals to build land in shallow, open water areas, typically where land has been lost. These projects can build land quickly but will fall victim to the same process that caused it to disappear.