WRDA 2007 contingently authorized a Medium Diversion of the Mississippi River near Myrtle Grove through a new control structure. The diversion would provide additional sediment and nutrients to nourish highly degraded existing fresh to brackish wetlands in shallow open water areas. This reintroduction would ensure the long-term sustainability of these marshes by increasing plant productivity, thereby preventing future loss. The introduction of sediment to this area would also promote the infilling of shallow open water areas both through deposition and marsh expansion. Dedicated dredging of sediment mined from the Mississippi River would complement this feature. This feature is located in the vicinity of a historic crevasse. The proposed feature would provide up to 13,400 acres of new emergent marsh and prevent the loss of another 6,300 acres of marsh. As one of the five near-term critical restoration features identified in the LCA Study, the Myrtle Grove project addresses the most critical ecological needs of the central Barataria Basin, which is an area where delaying action would result in a “loss of opportunity” to achieve restoration and/or much greater restoration costs. The benefits provided by this project includes: sustainable reintroduction of riverine resources; rebuilding of wetlands in areas at high risk for future loss, the preservation and maintenance of critical coastal geomorphic structures; preservation of critical areas within the coastal ecosystem while preserving the opportunity to begin to identify and evaluate potential long-term solutions.