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Engineered solutions–concrete sea walls, bulkheads, riprap–have been used to prevent Louisiana’s largest lake from devouring any more of its valuable shoreline. Has the cure been worse than the disease? This in-depth look at an important national lake examines the technical, ecological, economic, social, and political issues involved in lakeshore erosion control.

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As the 20th century wore on, more and more development took place along Lake Pontchartrain’s shorelines, and with it came the destruction of many biologically fertile marshlands, especially on the southern shoreline. In the early 1970s, Slidell, on the northeastern shore, expanded rapidly with housing developments, but at the expense of more precious wetlands. Natural shorelines and beaches quickly disappeared and were replaced by bulkheads.

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The state has lost 340 square miles in the last four years ...

The area west of New Orleans, across the Mississippi River, is “the fastest-disappearing land mass on earth,” said St. Pe, the marine biologist ...

Wetlands rank with rain forests and coral reefs in ecological importance, environmentalists say. They harbor plants and wildlife and function as natural sponges to buffer coastlines against water erosion and floods. Katrina would have been less devastating if wetlands hadn’t disappeared ...

One of the more notorious canals, Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet Canal, known locally as “Mr. Go,” unleashed salt water onto 27,000 acres of wetlands, eventually killing them ...

The erosion is caused largely by decades of building canals, levees and dams to control flooding, ease navigation and facilitate oil and gas exploration. Such projects choke off the flow of Mississippi River sediment that sustains the wetlands ...

“The sheer size of the problem is overwhelming,” while largely unrecognized outside the Gulf region, said Democratic consultant James Carville, a native Louisianan who moved to New Orleans from Washington 14 months ago ...

“It can be a national security issue; it can be economic; it can be environmental,” Carville said as he drove through the area recently. “But the first thing to make it relevant is people have to be aware it’s happening.”

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Congress authorized $7 billion for 17 Louisiana projects in 2007. Just $100 million of the money has been released, according to Graves of the governor’s office. Louisiana has set aside $500 million since Katrina for coastal work, he said.

“There’s no significant restoration program at all right now,” Houck said.

Some critics fault both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations ... "we are part of the United States and we are literally sinking ... tremendously disappointed” in Obama’s administration and “expected them to be more aggressive in addressing the problem

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The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana invites you to participate in a 2-week long marsh restoration project in the open mud flats located on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain within the USFWS Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana. Over 70,000 marsh plants will be planted to help restore and enhance the wetlands and we are looking for over 400 volunteers to help accomplish this project.

We will plant over 5,000 plugs of smooth and marshhay cordgrass per day to help stabilize and vegetate the bare marsh platforms that were created by the CWPPRA Goose Point/Point Platte Marsh Creation Project. This project dredged sediments from Lake Pontchartrain to create over 550 acres of marsh platform. The vegetation will help to stabilize the soils, create wildlife habitat, encourage species diversity and provide a seed source for natural regeneration.

This project is being completed through a partnership with NOAA’s Community Based Restoration Program, Restore America’s Estuaries, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, For the Bayou, The Lang Foundation, The Coastal Society and US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Where: Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana
Volunteers will meet at the Refuge Headquarters located at
61389 Highway 434 Lacombe, LA 70445

When: September 27th through October 8th, 2010 (except Sunday)
8:00 am until all the plants are planted (approximately 3:00pm)

Note: This project requires outdoor physical activity and volunteers should expect to get dirty. Volunteers must be 15 years of age or older. Minors must be accompanied by an adult.

Volunteers can sign up for one day or multiple days. All planting equipment (gloves, shovels, dibbles, etc.) will be provided. Lunch and drinks will also be provided to all volunteers. All volunteers must be registered online or call the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana at (888)-LACOAST. Additional information, including directions to the project site, will be provided to registered volunteers via email prior to the event. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide housing or travel to volunteers.

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In recent years, dire predictions of catastrophic consequences have fueled Louisiana's efforts to restore our failing coast. Comprising nearly 1/3 of our state's land area and home to 2/3 of Louisiana's residents, Louisiana's coastal zone has been battered by hurricanes and shaped to meet the demands of modern development. Since 1900, Louisiana has lost more than 1 million acres of wetlands and barrier shoreline as a result of natural processes and human activity.

Louisiana's coastal wetlands stand on the verge of collapse. In the past 50 years, more than 1500 square miles of coastal Louisiana have been lost. Without immediate and decisive action, Louisiana stands to lose an additional 1000 square miles of land, an area the size of Rhode Island, by the year 2050. This land is not only an important habitat for fish and wildlife, it provides and indispensable storm buffer for communities, transportation routes and energy infrastructure.

Coastal Louisiana has lost an average of 34 square miles of land, primarily marsh, per year for the last 50 years. From 1932 to 2000, Coastal Louisiana lost 1900 square miles of land, roughly an area the size of Delaware. If nothing more is done to stop this land loss, Louisiana could potentially lose approximately 700 additional square miles of land, or an area about equal to the size of the greater Washington D.C. – Baltimore area, in the next 50 years.

Storm Protection:
Wetlands and barrier islands form a natural buffer zone that absorbs storm surges and blunts the force of high winds. Scientists estimate that approximately 2.7 miles of wetlands is capable of absorbing one foot of storm surge. As the barrier islands and wetlands erode, south Louisiana communities will be exposed to the direct brunt of storms and hurricanes.

If wetlands and barrier islands continue to erode as projected, more than 2 million people living in south Louisiana could be subjected to more frequent and severe flooding. The frequency of flooding along Louisiana's coastal zone has already caused some insurance companies to discontinue coverage and cease issuing policies. If we do not change our present course and rebuild this buffer zone, severe flooding will endanger all long-term investments in south Louisiana.

Habitat:
The abundance of our fisheries is directly attributed to the millions of acres of coastal marsh used as a nursery by young fish and shellfish.

Additionally, Louisiana's 3 million acres of coastal wetlands provide habitat for over 5 million migratory waterfowl annually and also serve as a home to many endangered or threatened species.

Wetlands serve as natural filters of sewage and other pollutants introduced through drainage basins and the larger watershed region. As our wetlands and estuarine marshes collapse, saltwater intrusion can escalate salinity levels and disturb the delicate balance between fresh and salt water that support the bountiful fisheries of Louisiana.

The economic benefits of wildlife related harvests and watching total approximately $1.2 billion, including estimated retail sales and state taxes, and create an estimated 16,500 jobs for Louisiana citizens.

In 2002, Louisiana commercial landings exceeded 1 billion pounds with a dockside value of $343 million- that accounts for approximately 30% of the total catch by weight in the lower 48 States.

Annual expenditures related to non-commercial fishing in Louisiana can amount to between $703 million and $1.2 billion.

Energy:
Wetlands and barrier islands protect billions of dollars worth of oil and gas infrastructure from wave and storm damage. This disappearing land is a key part of the nation's energy system. Nearly 25% of all the oil and gas consumed in America and 80% of the nation's offshore oil and gas travels through Louisiana's wetlands.

As wetlands and barrier islands erode, our oil and gas infrastructure will become exposed to open water and increasingly susceptible to storm damage. At a time when our nation is attempting to move toward a self-sufficient energy policy, the rich resources of Louisiana will become increasingly more important to the future of the United States.

Navigation:
At the foot of the Mississippi’s 19,000-mile river system lie the six deep-water ports of southern Louisiana. These outlets to the world handle more than 450 million tons of cargo annually — much of it in exports from industry and agriculture throughout the nation. Continued wetlands loss will ultimately expose several of these ports to open water, rendering them vulnerable to severe damage from hurricanes and tropical storms. Losing these ports would paralyze not only Louisiana but also the rest of the nation.

Louisiana ranks first in the nation in total shipping tonnage, handling approximately 20% of the nation's waterborne commerce through its deep-draft ports of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, South Louisiana, Plaquemines Parish and St. Bernard. The ports between Baton Rouge and New Orleans are the largest by tonnage carried in the world and serve the entire eastern part of the country.

Louisiana's barrier islands and wetland shorelines protect navigation channels, anchorages and ports from winds, waves, storms and hurricanes. Without the protection of our rapidly eroding coastal wetlands and barrier islands, 155 miles of waterways will be exposed to open water in 50 years and billions of taxpayer dollars will have to be spent on increased dredging and maintenance costs.

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