Gulf Coast
Louisiana's coastal restoration master plan for next year has taken its next big step. It won approval from the Legislature last week, meaning it should go into effect for 2016. The plan itself contains $884 million in projects that attack the widespread erosion that is weakening our coast and making coastal resident more vulnerable every year.
Coastal restoration group details progress made with wetlands
Through a habitat restoration program established 15 years ago, a Baton Rouge-based nonprofit has restored 4,500 acres of wetlands in south Louisiana, organizers announced during a meeting Tuesday in Thibodaux. The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana shared information on area projects amid Cajun food and music at Mudbug Brewery.
State and federal trustees announced 10 new proposed projects Wednesday to restore damage stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with a total estimated cost of $133.6 million. If approved, the projects would be funded by BP, which has agreed to provide up to $1 billion for early restoration projects in the Gulf before the Natural Resources Damage Assessment process is complete.
Wisconsin will receive $36.5 million for conservation programs and projects in 2015, part of a $1.15 billion apportionment of excise tax revenues to states from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Both the Wisconsin and national sums are records in a mechanism that dates to 1937. The funding comes from the Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration and Sport Fish Restoration programs, also known as Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson, respectively, for the laws that established them.
The Department of Natural Resources Lake Michigan Coastal Program is seeking public input on funding priorities for the 2016 funding cycle of the Coastal Grants Program. The Coastal Grants Program is a competitive grants program that awards funding to units of local government, regional and state agencies, colleges and universities, and nonprofit organizations. The funds can be spent on public access or habitat improvements, land acquisition, planning and coordination, education and outreach, applied research and emerging issues projects.