Office of Coastal Management

COASTAL PROJECTS SHOWN IN VERMILLION AND IBERIA PARISHES

AVERY ISLAND—The Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration (Breaux Act) Task Force, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, and Iberia and Vermilion parishes hosted a dedication and groundbreaking ceremony for six coastal wetland projects today at 10 a.m. on Avery Island.

Helicopter trips for the media and selected officials to view the projects took place before the ceremony. Boat tours were available afterwards.

Federal sponsors and their projects included:

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Marsh Island Hydrologic Restoration, Iberia Parish, 367 acres to benefit
• Natural Resources Conservation Service & Environmental Protection Agency – Lake Portage Land Bridge, Vermilion Parish, 24 acres to benefit
• National Marine Fisheries Service – Pecan Island Terracing, Vermilion Parish, 442 acres to benefit
• Natural Resources Conservation Service – Coastwide Nutria Control Program, all coastal parishes, 14,963 acres to benefit
• Natural Resources Conservation Service – Chenier Au Tigre Sediment Trapping Demonstration, Vermilion Parish
• Natural Resources Conservation Service – Oaks/Avery Canal Hydrologic Restoration Increment 1, Vermilion Parish and Iberia Parish, 160 acres to benefit

Projects recognized during the ceremony will stabilize shorelines and restore and improve hydrology and brackish marsh, and reduce marsh erosion and tidal fluctuations. The demonstration project will test the effectiveness to trap and retain sediment from gulf tides.

As a result of these projects, Louisiana will recognize a net benefit of more than 15,956 acres created, restored or protected. Costs for the six projects totaled $81.4 million. The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources is the state sponsor on all Breaux Act projects. To date, 50 projects have been completed with a total of 101 cost-sharing agreements executed.

The Corps’ Col. Peter Rowan, chair of the Breaux Act Task Force and a guest speaker at the ceremony, emphasized the need for coastal projects. “The multi-agency partnerships forged over the past decade to address the state’s wetland loss rate result in projects like the ones we’re dedicating today. These projects represent the various strategies and potential solutions we can employ to restore and protect our coastal wetlands.”

Other dignitaries attending the ceremony included Senator Craig Romero, Paul McIlhenny, president and CEO, Tabasco, Inc., and Karen Gautreaux, Gov. Foster’s executive assistant for coastal activities. Representatives from the parishes and task force agencies also participated.

Summaries of the six dedicated projects:

1. Marsh Island Hydrologic Restoration – Located in Iberia Parish, this project stabilizes the northeastern shoreline of Marsh Island, including the northern shoreline of Lake Sand, and helps restore historic hydrology to the area. Project components include the construction of seven closures for oil and gas canals at the northeast end of Marsh Island and the protection of the northeast shoreline with rock including the isolation of Lake Sand from Vermilion Bay.
2. Lake Portage Land Bridge – Located in the southern portion of Vermilion Bay, the project was authorized to address localized wetland loss and imminent breaching of the pipeline canal between Lake Portage and the Gulf of Mexico. Project features include backfilling of the pipeline canal with dedicated dredge material from Vermilion Bay.
3. Pecan Island Terracing – Located in southeastern Vermilion Parish, this restoration project will reduce marsh erosion by creating emergent terraces designed to minimize wave action across open water and, at the same time, create linear marsh features. Future marsh loss will be prevented and brackish marsh will be restored. Construction of the earthen terraces in shallow water areas will also convert areas of open water back to vegetated marsh.
4. Coastwide Nutria Control Program – This project, which covers all basins and coastal parishes of Louisiana, will significantly reduce the damage nutria herbivory causes to coastal wetlands. The project will implement a nutria control program designed to remove about 400,000 nutria annually. The control program will consist of an Incentive Payment Program to encourage nutria harvesting, and will reduce the damage by and estimated 25,000 to 49,000 acres over the next five years.
5. Cheniere Au Tigre Sediment Trapping Demonstration – Located in southern Vermilion Parish, this demonsatration project will field test the effectiveness of segmented rock breakwaters to trap and retain sediment from gulf tides in this part of the gulf shoreline potentially stabilizing the existing shoreline on Cheniere Au Tigre. Increased sediment accretion on the Gulf of Mexico side of the chenier is expected to act as an area of defense between the higher salinity seawater and the brackish marsh that lies immediately behind the chenier.
6. Oaks/Avery Canal Hydrologic Restoration, Increment 1 –Located in northeast Vermilion Bay in both Vermilion and Iberia parishes, this project will improve hydrology and reduce tidal fluctuation to minimize marsh loss and provide protection to critically eroding shoreline areas. A low sill rock weir east of Oaks Canal and an earthen plug at the Union Oil Canal will restore historic hydrologic conditions and reduce the surge effect of large marine traffic within interior marshes.

(Visit www.lacoast.gov for detailed information on each of these projects.)

For more information, contact: CWPPRA Outreach Coordinator Gabrielle Bodin at 337/266-8623.