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Coastal Wetlands of Louisiana: A Resource Partially Restored CAMERON, Louisiana, December 24, 2001 (ENS) - Louisiana loses 25 to 35 square miles of its coastal wetlands each year. For state and federal officials trying to reverse these losses, the ceremony December 14 celebrating the partial restoration of the wetlands in Louisiana's southwestern corner was the climax of years of negotiations and work. Held to dedicate eight recently completed wetlands restoration projects, the event was hosted by Louisiana Senator John Breaux at the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and other dignitaries got a birdseye view as they were flown over the newly restored wetlands on helicopter tours. The largest of the eight restoration projects, the Black Bayou Hydrologic Restoration Project benefits the greatest area of coastal wetlands constructed to date by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act. The 25,530 acre wetland is located in Cameron and Calcasieu parishes. The $6.4 million Black Bayou project was designed to restore coastal marsh habitat and slow the loss of wetlands that are gradually turning into shallow open water within the project area.
The self-regulating tide gate, built in California, has never before been used as a restoration technique in Louisiana. NOAA Fisheries believes it will achieve dual objectives of protecting thousands of wetland acres while maintaining fisheries access to these very wetlands. If proven successful, the self-regulating tide gate could become widely used to preserve coastal Louisiana habitat. The restoration of Louisiana's marshes is funded through the Breaux Act, a 10 year old campaign to protect and restore coastal natural resources. "The goal for the Black Bayou restoration and our other Breaux Act restoration projects is to protect and restore ecologically valuable areas of coastal Louisiana for the benefit of fisheries, marine habitat and other important resources," said Scott Gudes, NOAA deputy administrator. "We expect to apply what we're learning here to future projects." The Black Bayou hydrological restoration project was jointly managed by NOAA Fisheries and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Over the next two years, NOAA Fisheries plans to spend a portion of the total funds planting 55,000 wetland plants in the area. Over the 20 year life of the project, experts expect an additional 1,800 acres of open water to convert back into marsh across the project area. The Calcasieu/Sabine Basin contains about 312,500 acres of wetlands, consisting of 32,800 acres of fresh marsh, 112,000 acres of intermediate marsh, 158,200 of brackish marsh, and 9,500 acres of saline marsh. A total of 122,000 acres have been lost in the basin since 1932, 28 percent of the marsh that existed then. The natural processes of waterflow and marsh formation have been altered by the needs of industry. Channels to enhance navigation and mineral extraction activities have been constructed, and navigation channels now dominate the hydrology of the basin. The Calcasieu Ship Channel is maintained at 40 feet deep by 400 feet wide and extends from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Charles, Louisiana. Erosion is a problem along the shores of Calcasieu and Sabine lakes and the banks of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Erosion related breaching of the lakes' shores threatens adjacent marshes because of the vulnerability of their typically weaker soils to increased water exchange and saltwater intrusion. Along the Gulf of Mexico, shoreline retreat is causing the loss of back-beach marshes and is threatening to alter the hydrology of interior marshes. Flood control projects on the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers, and construction of jetties on the Mermentau River, Calcasieu Ship Channel, and at Sabine Pass, have altered long shore sediment transport and sediment availability, Coastal Wetlands experts say. Breaux Act projects are implemented through agreements between federal project sponsors and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Projects are selected and managed by the Coastal Wetlands Planning Protection and Restoration Act Task Force. The Task Force is a partnership among the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Commerce's NOAA Fisheries, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Louisiana Governor's Office. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2001. All rights reserved. |
Construction included restoring 22,800 linear feet of the southern bank of
the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, installing three rock weirs to reduce the
size of manmade canals in the project area, and installing a
state-of-the-art self-regulating tide gate.
