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Sabine Refuge Project Completed; Contract Let for East Mud Lake

Small-scale CWPPRA projects continue to come on-line in the battle to save Louisiana's coastal wetlands. The Sabine Refuge project joins five other projects completed in 1994 and early 1995, while the East Mud Lake project is just getting under way.

Sabine Refuge Erosion Protection Project

With the completion of the Sabine Refuge Erosion Protection project in March 1995, the future looks brighter for the largest of the Gulf Coast waterfowl refuges.

The project, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, protects a 27,000-acre fresh marsh impoundment on the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Louisiana. An important wintering ground to migratory waterfowl in both the Mississippi and Central flyways, the refuge also provides vital habitat to other migratory birds, alligators, furbearers, and freshwater and estuarine-dependent finfish and shellfish.

The project involved reconstructing 1,000 feet of deteriorated levee and placing 5.5 miles of rock breakwater along the existing levee. Marsh vegetation was also planted along the Burton Canal to reduce erosion from boat traffic.

Over the years, boat and barge wakes had eroded the levee surrounding the impoundment. If allowed to continue, the erosion would have led to levee failure and subsequent saltwater intruson and tidal scour. Extensive marsh die-back and rapid erosion of the fragile, organic marsh soils were inevitable.

Existing beds of submerged and floating-leaved aquatic vegetation would also have suffered extensive losses because of increased salinity, turbidity and water exchange. The prospects were grim: the area was likely to convert to shallow, unvegetated open water. With the loss of aquatic vegetation, wind-induced erosion of the remaining marsh within the impoundment would worsen. Without the project, 13,000 acres of existing fresh marsh and aquatic vegetation could have been lost.

East Mud Lake Marsh Management Project

A major step toward reducing wetland degradation in the East Mud Lake area has been taken with the contract award for installation of the East Mud Lake Marsh Management Project.

Located in Cameron Parish about one mile north of Holly Beach between Louisiana Highway 27 and Calcasieu Lake, the project area contains approximately 8,000 acres of wetlands consisting of vegetated marsh and open water.

Once a highly productive emergent marsh, the East Mud Lake area is currently being converted to open water at a rate of about 76 acres per year. Submerged aquatic vegetation, once abundant in Mud Lake, is now limited. Consequently, the area's value as wildlife and fisheries habitat has been greatly reduced.

Inadequate water exchange points, subsidence and major changes in hydrology have affected the area. The Calcasieu Ship Channel, located approximately four miles east of the project and linked hydrologically by a connection between West Cove of Calcasieu Lake and the East Mud Lake wetlands, has contributed to hydrology changes in the area, as have LA Hwy 27, LA Hwy 82, canals and oil field access roads.

Increased tidal exchange and salinities associated with the altered hydrology have resulted in severe soil erosion in the project area. In fact, the land-to-water ratio has changed from 99:1 in 1953 to 40:60 at the present time. According to Clay Midkiff, district conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, "The East Mud Lake wetlands are rapidly approaching the state at which emergent wetland loss is irreversible."

The project will reduce wetland degradation and increase emergent and submergent wetland vegetation. It will protect and enhance approximately 3,200 acres of emergent wetlands; increase quantity and quality of emergent and submergent vegetation; improve fish and wildlife habitat suitability; enhance shallow estuarine open water habitat quality; stabilize water salinity levels within tolerance range of brackish vegetation; stabilize water levels; and increase recreational opportunities by providing more wildlife and fisheries habitat.

The East Mud Lake marsh management plan contains a variety of conservation measures: