Posted on January 6, 2022
BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) – The Lake Borgne Marsh Creation Project in St. Bernard Parish is officially underway, the Governor’s office announced on Tuesday.
“I want to thank CPRA for their work in advancing this record-breaking effort to restore hundreds of acres of marshland in the Pontchartrain Basin,” Edwards said. “The Lake Borgne project and others like it play a vital role in reversing the trend of land loss across Louisiana, and this project represents significant progress in the fight to preserve our coast.”
“The project is a part of the large-scale restoration strategy for the Pontchartrain Basin to reestablish the bay rim and intertidal marsh habitat in the area,” an official press release says.
The project will create and nourish 2,770 acres of marsh on the southern shoreline of Lake Borgne.
“At over 2,700 acres restored, the Lake Borgne Marsh Creation project will be the largest marsh creation project by acreage ever built by CPRA,” Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Chairman Chip Kline said. “This massive effort is just one component of our ambitious dredging program, and we look forward to continuing the important work to restore coastal Louisiana.”
The project’s construction budget is $61 million and is being funded through the money that resulted from the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill granted by the Natural Resource Damage Assessment program, according to the press release.
“To complete the Lake Borgne project, we’re using 13 million cubic yards of dredged material to restore deteriorating marsh from the eastern shore of Bayou Yscloskey extending over four miles toward Lena Lagoon,” CPRA Executive Director Bren Haase said. “We’re excited to be making progress on another major restoration effort in St. Bernard Parish that will protect the hurricane risk reduction system around the Greater New Orleans region.”
