2013 should be year of restoration

With a new year approaching that bears the unfavorable number 13, we hope it is not an indication of things to come pertaining to our efforts to save the coast of Louisiana. It’s getting close to the end of times when we can preserve that coast for the future prosperity of our state.

Studies have been made of what is needed to protect the land where we live. And we have attempted to get the financing to do it.

Included are plans to divert water and sediment from the Mississippi River into our wetlands to build them up, which is what our Davis Pond Diversion Project in St. Charles Parish does. This will enter fresh water into them that allows vegetation to grow and keep them intact.

Other projects planned are pumping sediment from the river through pipelines directly into flooded areas of our wetlands in need of soil and along our deteriorating barrier islands that protect our shores, especially during hurricanes.

Planting grass and other vegetation to hold the land together once it is formed is also important to our coastal restoration. And the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers should eliminate the custom of dredging the river to help the shipping industry and dumping the spoils offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, which helps take the land away from our coast.

Depositing our used Christmas trees in the wetlands also helps keep them intact. This will be done soon in St. Charles Parish. Watch for an announcement of pickups.

Yes, we have many great plans to save our coast. But they haven’t been put into effect fast enough.

The time is now to get the job done. If not, residents along the coast may soon be looking for a place to live.