General DNR News

BRADY CANAL PROJECT NEAR HOUMA DEDICATED

Contact and Issued by: 
Natural Resources Conservation Service 
(NRCS) 318-473-7762

The Brady Canal Project, another Breaux Act project that has been completed in the fight against coastal erosion, was dedicated during a ceremony on August 31, 2000, at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center in Houma, Louisiana.

The 7,600-acre project will restore historic water flows and protect shorelines to maintain and enhance existing marshes in the area. The Brady Canal Project was authorized by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (Public Law 646)—commonly called the Breaux Act after Senator John Breaux who was the major author of the Act. Two private landowners, Burlington Resources and Fina Oil and Chemical Company provided the local share of the project cost.

"Before the project was installed, the area was losing about 31 acres of marsh per year," explained Don Gohmert, State Conservationist with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, the federal sponsor of the project. "The weirs, rock-lined embankments, and rock plug will reduce extreme tidal fluctuation in the area and substantially reduce erosion. The project took about a year to build, but will provide long-lasting benefits to an area of Terrebonne Parish that was severely impacted by erosion. Saltwater intrusion has been a problem at certain times of the year and during tropical storms and hurricanes."

The Brady Canal Project is located about 15 miles southwest of Houma, Louisiana, north of Lake Mechant and west of Lake DeCade.

The Lafourche-Terrebonne Soil and Water Conservation District enlisted volunteers to plant seven thousand five hundred containers of giant cutgrass along the shorelines of many earthen embankments to further reduce erosion in those particular areas.

The Brady Canal Project partnership included Burlington Resources; Fina Oil and Chemical Company; USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service; Louisiana Department of Natural Resources; Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program; Lafourche-Terrebonne Soil and Water Conservation District; Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government and the Public Law 646 Task Force. All South General Contractors did the work on the project.

The total project cost of $4.8 million includes construction work and a 20-year operation, maintenance and monitoring agreement between the project partners. DNR's Project Manager is Clark Allen of the Coastal Restoration division.

Editors: For more on this topic, please contact DNR Public Information Officer Phyllis Darensbourg at 225-342-8955.