Houma Navigational Canal Lock Complex Moves Forward
Significant milestones achieved as project works toward implementation
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A project decades in the making saw significant milestones met recently, and construction work will begin soon.
The Houma Navigational Canal Lock Complex, a
multifaceted lock complex project, will offer ecological, economic and protection benefits, among many others, to the Bayou Region.
With final plans and specifications scheduled for August of 2020, the first phase of construction of the Houma Navigation Canal Lock Complex is on track to begin later this year. For what is predicted to be a four-year process, the targeted date of construction completion is the close of year 2024.
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"The Houma Navigational Canal Lock has always been the anchor for restoring this part of the Bayou Region, providing benefits well beyond the protection afforded through the Morganza to the Gulf system," said Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District Executive Director Reggie Dupre. " We have taken careful consideration to design a complex with far-reaching environmental benefits by distributing freshwater into the basin and keeping salt water at bay, but also making critical accommodations for business and industry to continue to thrive along our working coast."
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West Grand Terre and West Belle Pass Get Working; West Fourchon set for 2021
The two projects are active construction sites and one is preparing for construction in 2021
West Grand Terre
-- Located in Jefferson Parish at the sole of the Barataria Basin,
Phase 1 of the West Grand Terre Beach Nourishment and Stabilization project is the structure demolition and removal of several buildings and structural features including an old LDWF lab prior to construction of the beach and marsh components for this nourishment project. The final project for this hard hit area in the 2010 oil spill will restore vital habitat and provide shoreline protection as the first of a multiple lines of defense strategy.
Total estimated cost: $65M
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West Belle Pass
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The West Belle Pass Headland project extends and replenishes approximately 500 acres of beach, dune and marsh, while extending a sand spit from an earlier project. This headland will help protect Port Fourchon and the vital LA 1 Highway.
Funded through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, West Belle Pass is part of an effort which includes restoring two additional barrier islands, all essential to the state's barrier island system.
Total project cost for all three: $160M
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West Fourchon Marsh Creation
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Last but certainly not least, the West Fourchon Marsh Creation and Nourishment Project received CWPPRA funding for construction earlier this year. This project would create 295 acres and nourish 242 acres of open water, emergent saline smooth cordgrass marsh, and black mangrove habitat using material dredged material. The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority and federal National Marine Fisheries Services project team is preparing to submit the joint permit application soon, in the hopes of beginning construction around the summer of 2021. Construction should last eight to twelve months.
Total cost is nearly $29.5 million.
These projects certainly bring good news for the protection and restoration of our working coast, but also represent a powerful investment in our economy and good paying jobs that comes along with this work.
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Learn (and ask) more about the Terrebonne Basin Ridge and Marsh Creation Project
This project is bring funded through the Deepwater Horizon dollars
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From CPRA:
This project originated as the Bayou Terrebonne Ridge Restoration project in Louisiana Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast.
Similar to the other projects in the plan, its design is driven by the recognition that isolated project investments often provide little benefit beyond their immediate footprint, but the scale of Louisiana’s coastal challenges demands more. As the first of four integrated investments in the Terrebonne Basin, the project is designed to combat land loss and restore habitat in an area damaged by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The engineering and design of the project, which includes ridge and marsh creation components, have been funded through the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment process. Learn more at
https://la-dwh.com/.
The project team desires local feedback to finalize the design of the project. If you live, work, or spend time in the project area, please contribute by taking these actions between June 24 and
July 15, 2020.
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CPRA Monthly Meeting
July 15, 2020
9:30am
House Committee Room 5, on
Legis.La.Gov
and on Facebook Live
Webinar Wednesdays by CPRA
Check out
past webinars
of the Terrebonne Barrier Islands, CRMS monitoring system, sediment diversions, Queen Bess Island and more!
Mid Breton Diversion Scoping Meetings (Virtual)
The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA) has requested permits and permissions from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct, maintain, and operate the proposed Mid-Breton Sediment Diversion Project on the east bank of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. To inform these decisions, USACE will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and these scoping meetings are a critical component of the information gathering process.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
9:00 to 10:30am
1-844-621-3956
Access code: 126 005 0147
Wednesday, July 15, 2020
2:00 to 3:30pm
1-844-621-3956
Access code: 126 841 4739
Thursday, July 16, 2020
6:00 to 7:30pm
1-844-621-3956
Access code: 126 316 9289
More information on the meetings, as well as fact sheets, etc. can be found on
this Corps website
.
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Achieving comprehensive coastal restoration since 2000
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Restore or Retreat
is a non-profit coastal advocacy group created by coastal Louisiana residents and stakeholders who recognize that the Barataria and Terrebonne basins are the two most rapidly eroding estuaries on earth, and that this erosion represents an economic and ecological crisis. With a growing membership businesses and individuals, ROR seeks to identify and expedite the implementation of aggressive, large-scale restoration projects to protect this irreplaceable region.
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