Support for 2017 Coastal Master Plan
The America's WETLAND Foundation is working with state agencies and the Edwards Administration to help inform the master planning efforts to create a path forward on restoration and protection . With Louisiana's 2017 Coastal Master Plan pending legislative approval, public awareness and consensus building is necessary to address the important and often contentious issues that can either move restoration forward or delay it. AWF is working to bring together local, state, and national leaders in a series of balanced, high level stakeholder discussions to address the tough issues, find common ground, and move forward public and political will on issues that can inhibit progress of the Coastal Master Plan. Stay tuned for additional information on this important effort.

Update on Shoreline Stabilization Project
Gulf Intracoastal Shoreline Restoration and Stabilization Project was completed in December 2015, securing one mile of embankment with Vegetated EcoShield . The stabilized berm is now providing ecosystem services of a healthy and productive natural environment by creating vital feeding, nesting, and roosting habitat for shorebirds, migratory birds and waterfowl. The project was designed to prove that shoreline creep and erosion could be abated in a cost effective and time efficient manner. Six months following the project's completion , the unprotected shoreline showed erosion losses of more than 10 feet.

This project is proving that nature-based solutions can be effective for risk reduction at a fraction of the cost and time to complete projects that have historically been supported by government, be it local, state of federal. Cost-effective solutions for current and future risk to better integrate natural habitats and defenses as restoration tools hold great promise. 

Lake Salvador Shoreline Restoration Project  
The Foundation is developing specifications for a Lake Salvador shoreline stabilization and restoration project that builds on the success of the Waterway project and willrestore three miles of shoreline (1.5 miles of GIWW shoreline and 1.5 miles of the lake shoreline) adjacent to the location of the original project. It will secure and protect a narrow and eroding strip of land that , if breached , would result in significant salt-water intrusion into the lake and fresh water marshes. The project is in keeping with AWF's development of transitional projects that may not be prioritized in the State's coastal master plan, but important to the demonstration of effective strategies and innovative technologies that may be employed through public-private partnerships in the future.

Both traditional and innovative technology will be used in the form of low-cost bucket dredging and the use of some type of vegetated matrix to protect the land from eroding. By creating a "living shoreline ," the matrix and the plants will protect and fortify the embankment while building habitat for wildlife, waterfowl and aquatic life.   

Advocating for Private Investment in Coastal Restoration
The America's WETLAND Foundation commends    Resource Environmental Solutions on its partnership with a multinational private equity firm that made a significant investment in the company to support its next phase next phase of development, furthering private participation in coastal restoration in Louisiana.  

RES supplied the plants for the Foundation's shoreline stabilization and restoration project along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.


Protecting Coastal Funds
The America's WETLAND Foundation issued a statement in June that lauded Governor John BelEdwards and the Louisiana State Senate Finance committee for ensuring that coastal restoration dollars would not be siphoned off by other agencies and would remain within the Governor's Office of Coastal Activities. The statement read, in part, "Politics vs. process is a dangerous game to play, especially when it comes to how the BP dollars are spent. Any hint that those dollars are being sidelined from coastal restoration cannot be tolerated."

In the News
In case you missed it, below is a compilation of some of the most interesting news stories in recent weeks .

Texas' coastline is a source of economic strength and vitality. From oil-and-gas production to shipping to tourism, the region provides billions in economic value to the state. But it is also a source of vulnerability. In 2008, Hurricane Ike flooded 100,000 homes, causing $29 billion in property damage alone, with a total estimated impact of $142 billion (Via R Street)

The state coastal authority approved the final step needed to allow offshore oil and gas revenue to be used to cover construction costs for the continued elevation of La. 1 connecting Golden Meadow to the important oil and gas Port Fourchon. (Via Baton Rouge Advocate)

In the years since Katrina decimated the Gulf Coast and Irene and Sandy inundated just about everything from the Caribbean to Canada, there's been ongoing second-guessing on what should have been done to better protect those coastal areas. (Via Texas Climate News)

Some of the world's largest cities are sinking faster than the oceans are rising. Humans are part of the problem, but we can also be part of the solution through monitoring and modeling.  (Via EOS)

National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service provided local emergency managers with worst-case scenarios. Check out the presentation (Via NOLA.com)

A measure headed for a Senate vote later this year aims to send Louisiana and other Gulf states more money from oil and gas drilling in federal waters off their coasts. Louisiana Republicans Bill Cassidy and David Vitter are among U.S. senators who have introduced the American Energy and Conservation Act of 2016. (Via Houma Courier)

A new report by a national environmental group cites major agriculture companies as culprits behind much of the pollution that scientists say causes the Gulf of Mexico's so-called dead zone every summer. The report, released today by the Environment America Research and Policy Center, uses publicly available data to document pollution from Tyson and four other major agriculture conglomerates the group claims is responsible for an estimated 44 percent of the pork, chicken and beef produced in the U.S. (Via Houma Courier)

Isle de Jean Charles, in southern Louisiana, is linked to the mainland by a long, straight road. When I first set out across it, there was a strip of wetlands on either side. But as I continued, the water closed in, lapping at the edges of the asphalt. (Via Smithsonian Magazine)

This is a video from Chris Hayes at MSNBC, called The Vanishing Island. The people of Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana are among the first Americans directly impacted by climate change that the federal government is helping relocate. (Via MSNBC)

The documentary "Can't Stop the Water" takes viewers to southern Louisiana's Isle de Jean Charles, where storm surges exacerbated by climate change, coastal oil and gas development, and wetland degradation are combining to push the island under water. (Via Ensia)

New Orleans filled with water" does not conjure up a promising image, at least not yet. The fight to stay dry has defined the city's history. In the early 20th century, pumps and canals drained swamps and marshes, allowing development in low-lying neighborhoods like Gentilly, on the sunken edge of Lake Pontchartrain. (Via The Atlantic)

Conservation measures by farmers have reduced nitrogen and phosphorus runoff in Iowa and other states in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, according to a federal government study released this week. (Via Des Moines Register)

Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have published a new study that demonstrates that agricultural conservation practices in the upper Mississippi River watershed can reduce nitrogen inputs to area streams and rivers by as much as 34 percent. (Via KITC)

Louisiana is taking a step it hopes will save both its coast and its oyster industry: It's renewing an oyster leasing program. The Louisiana Legislature recently passed two bills that lift a 14-year-old moratorium on new leases for oyster farmers. Gov. John Bel Edwards is expected to sign the bills soon. (Via Baton Rouge Advocate)

Up to $13 million to $14 million may be available each year for infrastructure directly affected by coastal land loss, and a state board on Wednesday proposed the criteria it would use to decide how the money gets spent. (Via Baton Rouge Advocate)

In Louisiana, it is easier to be against Mom andcrawfish pie than against "coastal restoration"[i]these days. Hundreds of people spent 3 days at a State of the Coast conference in New Orleans learning how that work is going and how much harder sea level rise is making it. The message from Louisiana's Governor, New Orleans' Mayor, and lots of other places was this, "Do smart, effective things faster." Exactly nobody then added, "but first go to court." (Via Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy)

Small oil spills off Louisiana's coast could help pay for coastal restoration projects as part of a state law signed by Gov. John Bel Edwards. House Bill 640, the first of its kind in the nation, authorizes the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to set up an oil spill mitigation bank. (Via Baton Rouge Advocate)

The 2016 summertime dead zone on the continental shelf along the coasts of Louisiana and east Texas will be 6,824 square miles, a low-oxygen area the size of Connecticut, according to a forecast Thursday (June 9) from scientists with Louisiana State University, the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium and the University of Michigan. (Via NOLA.com)

In a metamorphosis, New Orleans - once overwhelmed by failed levees and Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters - is moving to become a national model of how an urban center can embrace green tactics to tame water. (Via AP)

 
 
The America's WETLAND Foundation is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization that has acted as a neutral arbiter for coastal interests since its inception in 2002, elevating issues facing the Gulf Coast, specifically those of coastal land loss, to regional and national attention. The Foundation is supported by a growing coalition of world, national and state conservation and environmental organizations and has drawn private support from businesses that see wetlands protection as a key to economic growth. For more information, visit americaswetland.com and follow America's WETLAND Foundation on Facebook and Twitter.