Office of Coastal Management

DNR TAKES LEAD WITH COASTWIDE STRATEGIC PLANNING

Thursday, May 22, 1997

Department of Natural Resources Coastal Restoration Division Administrator Dr. Bill Good has called upon all needed forces to begin the development of a statewide, unified coastal plan. He says that within the next eighteen months, the plan should be ready to meet the approval of the state's Wetlands Authority and the CWPPRA (Breaux Act) Task Force.

Existing coastal plans for conservation and management of Louisiana's wetlands are lacking a number of significant elements, Good said. The present planning initiatives are set apart from past coastal plans by three important factors as outlined:

 

  • A Coastal Zone Advisory Committee will join the planning process by channeling local input.

     

  • Wetlands restoration will also address other coastal uses such as fisheries, navigation, flood protection, and mineral resources

     

  • Program strategy will be in unison with the state's Coastal Use Guidelines, Strategic Coastal Conservation and Restoration Plan, and the federal Breaux Act Coastal Wetlands Restoration Plan.

     

The public input process will be handled through a Coastal Management Guidance Development Work Group, while the scientific and technical aspect will be conducted through the Coastwide Strategic Planning Work Group. The goal of the coastal strategic plan is to sustain coastal resources and provide an integrated multiple use approach to ecosystems management. Leading the Coastwide Strategic Planning Work Group are Dr. Good and Robert Schroeder Jr. of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. DNR Assistant Secretary Katherine Vaughan and Dr.Terry Howey, Administrator of the Coastal Management Division will guide members of the Coastal Management Guidance Development Work Group. Federal, state, local, private, and public involvement will be represented in the planning initiatives. 

DNR Secretary Jack Caldwell believes that the working groups have every potential for meeting their objectives and for presenting a plan suitable for approval by the task forces.

Editors: For more information on this topic, please contact the DNR Public Information Office at (504) 342-8955.

News Archives »