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Recommendations for Operating a Sediment Diversion that Balances Ecosystem and Community Needs

Recommendations for Operating a Sediment Diversion that Balances Ecosystem and Community Needs

This is part one of the series “Building Land in Coastal Louisiana: Expert Recommendations for Operating a Successful Sediment Diversion that Balances Ecosystem and Community Needs.” This series will explore key recommendations for operating sediment diversions as outlined by the independent Sediment Diversion Operations Expert Working Group. The use of sediment diversions, a restoration tool that mimics the natural processes of the Mississippi River to build and sustain land, has been proposed for decades in coastal Louisiana. While we move …

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. …

Hottest Jobs in South Louisiana? Saving the Coast

Looking for the industry with the fastest growth and some of the best-paying jobs in coastal Louisiana? Saving Louisiana’s vanishing coastline is now the fastest growing industry along Louisiana’s coast, driving economic expansion and eclipsing the oil and gas sector in creating new jobs. Coastal restoration and protection is not only the biggest jobs creator in coastal Louisiana – it has some of the highest-paying jobs, averaging $69,277 per year. This hot job market is expected to get even hotter …

A Decade after Katrina, Groups Issue Recommendations for Community Protection, Restoration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:               Samantha Carter, National Wildlife Federation, 504.264.6831, carters@nwf.org Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Raleigh Hoke, Gulf Restoration Network, 573.795.1916, raleigh@healthygulf.org A Resilient, Sustainable New Orleans A Decade after Katrina, Groups Issue Recommendations for Community Protection, Restoration (New Orleans – August 11, 2015) To commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a coalition of local community and conservation advocacy groups working to restore wetlands around the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO) released a …

LPBF Assesses Upgraded Hurricane Protection System for Greater New Orleans Eastbank

By Ezra Boyd, PhD, Disastermap.net, LLC The Hurricane Surge Risk Reduction System As we approach the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the associated levee failures, the people of the Greater New Orleans (GNO) region face constant reminders that our safety and viability depend on a complex system made of numerous elements that together mitigate risks from hurricane induced tidal floods.  The near constant construction of levees, pumps and floodgates over the last decade provides the most visible evidence of …

Hydrocoast Maps Monitor Changes in Mississippi River Estuaries

By John Lopez, Ph.D., Coastal Sustainability Program Director, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation The Lake Pontchartain Basin Foundation (LPBF) is releasing a report describing the methodology of its Hydrocoast Maps program, a research effort that began in 2012 and monitors water flow, salinity and other factors to better understand the Mississippi River estuary in the Pontchartrain Basin. What are the Hydrocoast Maps? The Hydrocoast Maps monitor the distribution of salinity, changes in water quality, and other pertinent information across the Pontchartrain Basin …

NOAA Study Confirms BP Oil Spill Led to Dolphin Deaths in Northern Gulf of Mexico

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Jacques Hebert, National Audubon Society, 504.264.6849, jhebert@audubon.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org NOAA Study Confirms BP Oil Spill Led to Dolphin Deaths in Northern Gulf of Mexico  Leading Conservation Groups Call on BP to Accept Responsibility for Continued Environmental Damage (New Orleans, LA—May 20, 2015) Today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a peer-reviewed study confirming that the 2010 Gulf oil disaster contributed to …

Using adaptive management to help restore coastal Louisiana

By Estelle Robichaux, Restoration Project Analyst, Environmental Defense Fund This post is part of a series about oil spill early coastal restoration funding and projects, be sure to check out parts one and two. In November 2014, the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) announced that its Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund would award more than $13.2 million to Louisiana’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) to fund and further develop parts of its Adaptive Management Program. Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan …

BP's Sleight of Hand

This post has been cross-posted from an article originally published on the National Audubon Society’s website By: Melanie Driscoll, Director of Bird Conservation, Gulf Coast Conservation/Mississippi Flyway, Erik Johnson, Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon Louisiana A BP-authored report claiming that the Gulf has recovered is inaccurate and insulting—here’s why. Nearly five years after the largest accidental marine oil spill in U.S. history, BP is doing its best to convince the public that the 4.9[1] million barrels of oil that leaked …

10 Things BP’s New Report Doesn’t Tell You

This was originally posted on the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog. By Ryan Fikes, National Wildlife Federation BP has just released a new report on the state of the Gulf, called Gulf of Mexico: Environmental Recovery and Restoration. The glossy report is filled with footnotes and citations, but leaves key pieces of science out. Here are ten important things BP’s latest report strategically didn’t mention: Dolphins died before the spill – from freshwater The report says: “An “unusual mortality event” (UME) …

What can the Caernarvon Diversion and Bohemia Spillway teach us about coastal restoration?

By Theryn Henkel, Ph.D., Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation The Coastal Sustainability Program at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation (LPBF) recently released an article titled “Examination of Deltaic Processes of Mississippi River Outlets–Caernarvon Delta and Bohemia Spillway in Southeastern Louisiana” in the Gulf Coastal Association of Geological Societies Journal. The article details work that LPBF has done investigating the development of the Caernarvon Delta and operation of the Bohemia Spillway, both located in Plaquemines Parish, La. Natural land-building deltaic processes of …

NEWS RELEASE: Conservation Groups Release Restoration Solutions for Mississippi River Delta

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Emily Guidry Schatzel, National Wildlife Federation, 225.253.9781, schatzele@nwf.org Elizabeth Van Cleve, Environmental Defense Fund, 202.553.2543, evancleve@edf.org Lauren Bourg, National Audubon Society, 225.776.9838, lbourg@audubon.org Conservation Groups Release Restoration Solutions for Mississippi River Delta New report recommends a series of science-based restoration efforts to benefit coastal Louisiana (NEW ORLEANS – December 9, 2014) Today, leading national and local conservation groups released a report outlining 19 priority projects for restoring the Mississippi River Delta following the 2010 Gulf oil …

IPCC report examines climate change’s effects on Mississippi River Delta and strategies for adaptation

By Keenan Orfalea, Communications Intern, Environmental Defense Fund “There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.” – President John F. Kennedy The Mississippi River Delta – one of the largest and most productive wetland ecosystems in North America – is teeming with life, and this rich bounty has supported the development of unique cultures and traditions, alongside industry. At the same time, Louisiana’s fragile coastal wetland ecosystems are …

Mississippi River carries enough sand to build new land for at least 600 years, new study suggests

By Alisha A. Renfro, Ph.D., National Wildlife Federation As spring weather warms the Midwest, snow melts and drains from 31 states into the Mississippi River. In south Louisiana, the mighty Mississippi River is nearing its peak flow of nearly 900,000 cubic feet of water per second. Rolling down the river with the water is mud and sand, which are essential to building wetlands in the disappearing Mississippi River Delta. Every hour in Louisiana, a football field of land becomes open …

Study shows how coastal habitats help provide protection from storms, sea level rise

By Alisha Renfro, Coastal Scientist, National Wildlife Federation Coastal communities throughout the U.S. are increasingly threatened by rising sea levels and extreme weather events. The conventional approach for protecting people and property along the coast has relied on engineering solutions such as levees, seawalls and bulkheads, which “harden” shorelines. However, not only can these structures be expensive to build and difficult to maintain, but in some cases, they can also increase erosion, impair the recreational uses of the area and …