Office of Coastal Management

Barataria Waterway Project Shown —Rock Barrier Helping to Stem Problem

Lafitte. LA—A public dedication was held today highlighting the completion of the Barataria Bay Waterway West Bank Restoration Project, a Breaux Act project in Jefferson Parish located about five miles south of Lafitte, Louisiana, in an area commonly referred to as the ‘Dupre Cut.'

Over 15,700 feet of rock riprap embankment was placed on the west side of the Barataria Bay Waterway to re-establish the bank which had been breached over time. Two variable-crested weir inlets, or water control structures, were also installed to help reduce extreme water fluctuation and unnatural water flow in the Barataria Basin.

The old natural ridge of Bayou Barataria once protected the wetlands of the area, but construction of Dupre Cut, which established a direct link to Barataria Bay and the Gulf, changed the area. Initially, the spoil banks of Dupre Cut protected the adjoining marshes from salinity and tides but subsidence and wave action from marine traffic quickly breached the spoil banks allowing the adjoining wetlands to be impacted by increased water exchange and rapid changes in salinity. Between 1956 and 1990, the project area lost nearly 1,400 acres of emergent marsh to open water.

"This particular Breaux Act project will benefit over 2,000 acres of coastal wetlands," explained Don Gohmert, State Conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the federal sponsor of the project. "The local landowners, Webb-Milling, Madison Land Company, and Burlington Resources have done an excellent job in working with us every step of the way. The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Jefferson Parish Government, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also worked hard to make this project a reality."

DNR Secretary Jack Caldwell said the project will re-establish a barrier between the fragile and important organic marshes of the area and the Barataria Waterway.

Based on the federal/state cost share, the project costs total $2,066,176.

Editors: For more on this topic, please contact NRCS Herb Bourque @ 318-473-7762 or DNR Phyllis Darensbourg @ (225) 342-8955.