Turning the Tide

The fight to keep coastal Louisiana on the map

An ecosystem of enormous national significance is vanishing into the Gulf Mexico at an alarming rate. In Louisiana, roughly 34 acres of coastal wetlands wash into the sea every day and with every acre lost, an essential habitat moves closer to extinction.

In the past century, Louisiana has lost more than 1 million acres from its coast due to both human and natural factors that have disrupted ecological stability. If this loss continues, a resource required for essential natural processes will vanish at a catastrophic cost to our nation.

Billions of dollars in seafood production, oil and gas revenue, and commercial shipping will suffer without Louisiana's coastal wetlands, which provide the basis and support for these industries. In terms of human life, the value of these wetlands is beyond estimation.

As this land dissolves, hurricanes and tropical storms hit shore ever closer to the two million people who live near the coast. Healthy marsh provides a buffer to storms, and its ability to absorb high water and slow wind is key to survival for coastal communities. But, every year, as wetlands lose ground, these forces land closer to home.

Without intervention, this ecosystem will be erased from the national landscape. Already, coastal communities are sinking into the Gulf. Fisheries and energy production are at risk. An entire culture is threatened. In all, more than 1,900 square miles of marsh have turned into open water and the loss continues - every half hour, an area the size of a football field disappears.

Multi-faceted problem

Why is Louisiana facing such a critical level of land loss? The crisis confronting this state and the nation has multiple causes. Among them is the levee system completed on the Mississippi River to retain high water after a flood in 1927. Construction of canals and waterways for the oil and gas industry further weakened the basic integrity of this landmass. In addition, natural processes have contributed to the problem: storms, sea level rise, erosion, and subsidence, or compacting of the soil, have taken a toll.

For centuries, periodic overflow of the Mississippi River helped build the Louisiana coast through sedimentation - a natural land-building process that balances erosion and subsidence. Fresh river water delivers essential nutrients to marshes, a habitat that gradually shifts from fresh to salt water. When the levees became a tourniquet to freshwater and sediment flow, wetlands stopped receiving the nourishment necessary to remain healthy and offset natural deterioration.

Furthermore, as canals and commercial waterways dissected the core landmass, saltwater began to intrude upon and kill existing freshwater vegetation. The root system of these plants holds land in place, without it the land crumbles. As saltwater seeps into freshwater areas, vegetation dies and the process repeats, steadily moving inland. Combined with reduced fresh water inflow from the Mississippi River, the result is a starving ecosystem under attack.

A pro-active resolution

To address the need for immediate action and innovation, Congress passed the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in 1990. Sponsored by Louisiana Senator John Breaux, this legislation funds a multi-faceted coastal rehabilitation program managed by a task force of five federal agencies and state government joined in the common goal of saving one of America's most valuable natural resources.

In the past decade more than $600 million has been invested in coastal restoration to construct projects and develop restoration science and policy for the creation of long-term solutions. More than 66,000 acres already have benefited from 64 completed CWPPRA projects, with dozens more currently in design.

The practical, hands-on work of rebuilding a rapidly changing landscape is in itself a changing process. To effectively manage coastal restoration, intervention strategies must adapt to a growing body of scientific knowledge and evolving restoration techniques. In addition, this extreme level of loss has created a crisis situation that to succeed must rely on consensus building and a comprehensive rehabilitation plan.

To address this need, CWPPRA funded a 1998 report, "Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable Coastal Louisiana," that outlines a restoration program requiring at least $14 billion to implement. Coast 2050 includes multiple strategies for rehabilitating about 500,000 acres along Louisiana's coast over the next 40 to 50 years. It will be one of the largest environmental projects ever undertaken in the United States.

Although current funding levels cannot support a rehabilitation plan of this magnitude, CWPPRA continues to address immediate restoration needs while establishing a foundation of strong science, public participation and agency cooperation that will serve as the cornerstone of future programs.

Approach to the task

The goal of coastal rehabilitation projects funded by CWPPRA is to reestablish degraded wetlands and restore natural processes where possible. Some projects redirect fresh water into marshes suffering from saltwater intrusion. Other projects protect the coast with rock dikes or with improvements to barrier islands that slow wave action against the shore. Some projects involve depositing dredged soil into marshes, while many projects include planting new vegetation using species proven to thrive in marsh conditions.

CWPPRA projects have benefited the coast while creating a real-world framework for restoration research and technology. Although successful, CWPPRA is only part of the solution. To holistically meet the challenge of reversing land loss, established techniques and project scale must go to the next level. The catastrophic level of loss in Louisiana requires both landscape-level restoration and greater stakeholder involvement in reaching a common goal -- a sustainable coastal Louisiana. CWPPRA has taken the first steps in achieving this goal and is continuing to provide the necessary framework and immediate response to address Louisiana's coastal crisis.

The cost of inaction

When close to 2,000 square miles of land disappears from the economic and organic infrastructure of not just a state but also a nation, a natural disaster becomes a national crisis. In Louisiana, an entire ecosystem is at a crossroads between extinction and preservation.

Between the two extremes lies a natural world that supports almost one-third of the nation's oil and gas production and the largest seafood harvest in the lower 48 states. The marsh protects one of the largest shipping and fuel production corridors in the U.S. from hurricanes and open water conditions. Just one of Louisiana's major ports receives about a million barrels of oil every day - roughly 13 percent of the nation's foreign oil supply.

The marsh's mixture of salt and fresh water is an essential nursery for shrimp, crabs, and a variety of fish species. Annually, the dockside value of Louisiana's commercial seafood harvest is more than $342.7 million and recreational fishing is a $944 million industry.

This ecosystem is home to 77 percent of the plant and animal species listed as threatened or endangered in Louisiana. These coastal marshes are winter habitat for more migratory waterfowl than any other area in the U.S.

For the people who call south Louisiana home, the cost of doing nothing has no price tag. A cultural heritage made famous by Mardi Gras, has deeper roots than parties and parades. It is a heritage of family and friends, hunting and fishing, cooking and community that is defined, in part, by the prosperity that comes from living near the rich marshes, estuaries and fossil fuel stores formed by the wetlands.

It may cost $14 billion or more to rehabilitate Louisiana's coast, however experts put the cost of inaction at roughly $100 billion. Our nation cannot afford to lose this critical infrastructure for energy production, commercial shipping, oil and gas dispersal, and seafood harvests. If this natural resource vanishes, a part of America's prosperity vanishes. These are not just Louisiana's wetlands, this is America's Wetland.

The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA), enacted in 1990 and also known as the Breaux Act, provides approximately $50 million a year for coastal protection and restoration in Louisiana. The Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force oversees the implementation of CWPPRA in Louisiana. The Task Force is composed of the State of Louisiana and five federal agencies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Examples of CWPPRA projects:

West Bay - Freshwater and Sediment Re-Introduction
Project area - 12,910 acres
Net benefit after 20 years - 9,831 acres
Cost - $22.3 million

To rehabilitate declining wetlands in West Bay, fresh water and sediment from the Mississippi River will be re-introduced to the area using a conveyance channel. Dredged material from adjacent areas will be deposited at the site to rebuild the dying wetlands in this large-scale sediment diversion project launched by the CWPPRA Task Force.

Holly Beach - Shoreline Protection
Project area - 8,901 acres
Net benefit after 20 years - 330 acres
Cost - $19.3 million

The goals for the Holly Beach shoreline protection project are to protect roughly 8,000 acres of marsh wetlands, and to create and protect about 300 acres of beach dune along the shore. More than 1.7 million cubic yards of sand deposited on the beach will be protected by an existing rock breakwater system. Homes, businesses, and the area's only hurricane evacuation route were at risk because of chronic shoreline erosion. Holly Beach represents the largest beach shoreline protection project in the country.

Whiskey Island - Barrier Island Restoration
Project area - 4,926 acres
Net benefit after 20 years - 1,239 acres
Cost - $7.7 million

Without restoration efforts, Whiskey Island was expected to be lost by 2007. The plan for this CWPPRA project included the creation of 657 acres of back island marsh using material dredged from the bay north of the island. Sediment was pumped to restore 3.2 miles of the island. Projects such as this do not only extend the life of valuable island habitat, but also represent the first line of defense against coastal erosion.

Little Vermilion Bay - Marsh Creation (Terraces)
Project area - 964 acres
Net benefit after 20 years - 441 acres
Cost - $1.2 million

One of the newest techniques in coastal restoration, terracing has become an economical approach to direct marsh creation. This project is one of many like projects in coastal Louisiana, and involved the creation of over 23,300 linear feet of earthen, vegetated terrace. In addition to creating marsh, this project is trapping sediment, which will help sustain the terraces and promote additional marsh growth.

North Lake Mechant Landbridge - Marsh Creation, Shoreline Protection, Hydrologic Restoration
Project area - 8,877 acres
Net benefit after 20 years - 604 acres
Cost - $3 million

This project shows how several techniques may be combined to address restoration needs within an area. Located in Terrebonne Parish, this area suffers from subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and shoreline erosion. By creating marsh with dredged sediments, replanting the shoreline, and restoring more natural hydrology with plug structures, this project is helping to turn the tide on wetland loss.

Bayou LaBranche Wetlands - Marsh Creation (Platform)
Project area - 487 acres
Net benefit after 20 years - 203 acres
Cost - $5.6 million

Located next to Interstate 10 just outside of New Orleans, the Bayou LaBranche Wetlands Project deposited 2.7 million cubic yards of sediment dredged from Lake Pontchartrain to create new, emergent marsh in what had formerly been an open water area. This project is providing needed habitat to coastal organisms, but more critically, this project also created land to provide protection to New Orleans from land loss and potentially lethal hurricanes.

Project types:

Freshwater and Sediment Re-Introduction

One of the most affective and sustainable restoration strategies, freshwater and sediment re-introductions function to deliver freshwater, sediment, and nutrient laden water to a struggling wetland habitat. Re-introductions allow river water to flow into nearby wetlands and mimic natural land-building processes, which are critical to slowing saltwater intrusion and promoting the growth of new marsh. Examples of re-introductions include freshwater siphons, direct river sediment delivery, and gaps in the levee banks to divert river flow into adjacent wetlands.

Shoreline Protection

CWPPRA shoreline protection projects are designed to decrease or stop shoreline erosion. Such structures as rock berms, segmented breakwaters, or wave-dampening fences are installed in adjacent open water to decrease a wave's energy before it hits shore. Some shoreline protection projects involve rebuilding the shoreline with dredged material, which, in addition to the use of hard structures, can promote sediment accretion to further strengthen eroding shorelines.

Barrier Island Restoration

Barrier island restoration involves physically rebuilding the island with dredged material to reestablish protective dune systems and back-island marsh habitat. Some restoration strategies include construction of rock breakwaters to fortify the island from hurricanes and heavy waves. Sand trapping fences combined with vegetative plantings aid in stabilizing the created sand dunes and marsh. Barrier island restoration projects are typically designed in anticipation of major storm events, which frequent the Louisiana coast.

Marsh Creation (Platforms and Terraces)

Earthen terraces and marsh platforms have been created by CWPPRA in several locations as a means of directly restoring lost marsh. These features are constructed by placing dredged sediment in various configurations to reconnect broken marsh and fill in shallow, open water. Whereas marsh platforms are contiguous, terraces are long, linear, and unconnected. Once vegetated, terraces and marsh platforms are capable of reducing wave erosion, promoting sediment accretion and aquatic plant colonization, reestablishing emergent marsh, and providing habitat to many bird and fish species.

Hydrologic Restoration

The goal of hydrologic restoration projects is to reestablish natural drainage patterns and salinity levels that are conducive to healthy and diverse ecosystems. This is accomplished either on a large scale through gating channels and rebuilding natural ridges, or on a smaller scale by cutting gaps in artificial levees or blocking dredged canals. These structures help optimize water flow within an area, and reduce the harmful impact of saltwater intrusion.

For more information on CWPPRA and coastal land loss in Louisiana, visit our Web site: lacoast.gov.