Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion
Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion
Louisiana’s Barataria Basin has experienced some of the highest rates of land loss in the country. Between 1932 to 2016, the region lost nearly 295,000 acres of land. The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion has been a cornerstone restoration project in the state’s Coastal Master Plan and work to address this excessive land loss. The diversion is being designed to strategically mimic the natural riverine processes that built the Mississippi River Delta and to help build and maintain land in the degraded …
River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp
This diversion, near Garyville, will provide fresh water and nutrients to existing wetlands in Maurepas Swamp. Dominated by bald cypress and water tupelo trees, the Maurepas Swamp complex is one of the largest forested wetlands in the nation. However, levees constructed along the river have isolated the area from spring floods and the vital fresh water, nutrients and sediment they bring. This isolation, coupled with rising salinities throughout the Pontchartrain Basin while the MRGO was open, has left the swamp …
Houma Navigation Canal Lock Hydrologic Restoration
This project will construct a lock on the Houma Navigation Canal located in western Terrebonne Bay. The Houma Navigation Canal is a significant conduit for salt water into Terrebonne’s rapidly disappearing marshes. Construction of this project will help control salinities in the navigation canal and increase the effectiveness of the Increase Atchafalaya Flow into Terrebonne Marshes project by retaining and enhancing the distribution of fresh water in the wetlands to the north of the lock. The construction of the Houma …
Bayou La Loutre Ridge Restoration
Breton Ridge Restoration includes the restoration of two historic ridges on either side of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MRGO), Bayou Terre aux Boeufs and Bayou La Loutre. Bayou La Loutre begins in Yscloskey and extends into the southeastern Biloxi marshes. Bayou La Loutre ridge is actually comprised of two parallel natural levees flanking old Bayou La Loutre (Otter Bayou), which is part of the structural underpinning of the Biloxi marshes. Construction of the MRGO breached the ridges, dramatically altering the …
Calcasieu-Sabine Large-Scale Marsh and Hydrologic Restoration Project
The Chenier Plain, located in Southwest Louisiana, is part of the Calcasieu-Sabine Basin and home to the Calcasieu Ship Channel. While the Calcasieu Ship Channel is a critical asset for navigation for the entire region, it also poses one of its greatest threats—allowing increasing amounts of salt water into nearby ecologically important freshwater marshes. This project’s purpose is to produce large-scale marsh drainage improvements that reduce the flood stress currently driving marsh vulnerability in the region. This will be done …