Eleven candidate projects were selected Tuesday to be considered for implementation under the Breaux Act which was set up many years ago to help preserve and restore the coast of Louisiana.
Known as the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA), it has been the main source of federal participation in efforts to keep our state high and dry rather than wet and low.
Most of the candidate projects involve marsh creation and sediment diversion which is the newest method of fighting Louisiana’s erosion problems. The sediment is delivered from the bottom of our rivers and streams through large pipes extending into areas of our wetlands which are deteriorating into open water and, perhaps later, into the Gulf of Mexico.
One problem brought out at the CWPPRA technical meeting at which the selections were made was the fact that the pipes which deliver the sediment are laid for one project at a time which means that, when the project is completed, the miles of pipes used are dismantled and removed from the wetlands when actually they could be kept in place and used for other nearby projects in the future. Some audience members complained that it was a waste of money and time to dismantle them.
Projects should be planned in coordination with each other to avoid such waste. It would certainly add to the efficiency of our coastal restoration.
Among the projects selected are two in the Barataria Basin.
They include Home Place marsh creation which would restore 200 to 250 acres of wetlands at a cost of $23 million and Bayou Dupont sediment delivery which would restore some 500 acres of wetlands at a cost of $34 million.
Other projects selected would provide a coastwide planting project to help restore protective vegetation that has washed away; marsh creation in Terrebonne Bay, Bayou Bonfouca, Cole’s Bayou,Cameron-Creole Watershed, Kelso Bayou and Lake Lery; shoreliine protection from Unknown Pass to Rigolets; and a siphon at Monsecour.
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