Posted on April 17, 2018
By Keith Magill, houmatoday.com
Two local coastal restoration projects are on a list of 11 that could head to design and engineering later this year.
A federal and state panel announced last week that it had selected the projects from among 70 proposed during public hearings and meetings across coastal Louisiana earlier this year.
Making the decision was the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Technical Committee. It is comprised of representatives from five federal agencies and the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.
“The Technical Committee considered project costs, potential wetland benefits of each project, and public comment in their selection of the final 11,” the panel said in an announcement.
Here is a summary of the two local projects:
Lafourche Parish: East Catfish Lake Marsh Creation and Shoreline Protection. The project, with an estimated cost of $38 million, would dredge sediment from the lake to restore its eroding shoreline near Golden Meadow.
It will also plant marsh grasses and build terraces to offer increased protection to the south Lafourche hurricane protection levee.
“Significant marsh loss has occurred east and south of Catfish Lake,” according to a project fact sheet. “Causes of marsh loss include the construction of numerous oil/gas canals, subsidence and sediment deprivation. Between Catfish Lake and the Golden Meadow Hurricane Protection Levee, very little marsh remains after the construction of an extensive network of oil/gas canals. Much of the remaining land in this area consists of spoil banks and isolated patches of marsh.”
An examination of aerial photos shows most of the wetlands loss occurred during the 1960s and 1970s, the report says. Shoreline erosion rates along the lake between 1998 and 2015 range from 10 feet per year along the eastern shore to 23 feet a year along the southern banks.
The project would create a net 243 acres of wetlands over its 20-year life.
Terrebonne Parish: Small Bayou LaPointe Marsh and Ridge Restoration. The waterway runs south from Bayou Dularge past Lake Decade and into Lake Menchant in the parish’s south-central reaches.
The $29 million project would restore about 393 acres of marsh and build an 18,500-foot-long ridge along a historic ridge that would help buffer the Dularge area from Gulf of Mexico storm surges. Sediment for the work would be dredged from Lake Menchant.
“Subsidence, canal dredging, saltwater intrusion and altered hydrology are all important factors contributing to marsh loss in the area,” the project report says. “In addition, forested ridge no longer exists along Small Bayou LaPointe. The ridge has subsided over several centuries and is now marsh.”
The committee will decide later this year which of the projects will advance to the next step — engineering and design.
All of the projects are part of the state’s $50 billion, 50-year coastal restoration master plan.
Source: houmatoday
