User:Dstricker81/sandbox

Restoration of Grand Isle
The Restoration of Grand Isle is very important to Louisiana's economy and should be heavily monitored. Hurricanes and the Oil Spill have made Grand Isle vulnerable to land loss.

In 1998, the State of Louisiana and its federal and local partners approved a coastal restoration project called Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable Coast. It is a $14 billion fund that is hoped to be allocated over 50 years in around 77 restoration projects with the aim of creating a sustainable ecosystem of coastal Louisiana. While the plan focuses on all of Louisiana, restoration of the Barataria Basin was the first priority and Grand Isle is at the mouth of Barataria Bay. On February 18, 2000, the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources signed an agreement to initiate a restoration plan to this basin. The loss of wetland in Barataria Bay is estimated at about 11 square miles per year from 1978-1990 (Fuller et al. 1995). Most strategies in the Barataria Basin region depend on the overall input, movement, and circulation of water, sediment, and nutrients in the basin. Other strategies can be implemented independently of these considerations. These include barrier shoreline restoration, marsh creation in the southwestern basin, and a delta-building diversion from the lower Mississippi. The completion of Coast 2050 was to restore and protect 450,000 acres of wetland. Congress had not approved the Coast 2050 plan, and when Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita hit, Congress was studying a less costly, scaled down proposal which could be initiated in the span of a decade.

In April of 2009, the Mississippi River Sediment Delivery System was proposed to channel dredged sediment from the Mississippi River to the wetlands in South Louisiana to restore 474 acres of tidal marsh. Approximately 200 million tons of sediment flows down the Mississippi River annually, of which the the Army Corps of Engineers dredges about 60 million cubic yards of the sediment to maintain Louisiana's waterways. According to the project documents, if successful, the Sediment Delivery system could potentially create 18 square miles of marsh a year and reduce wetland losses by as much as two-thirds. The dredged sediment will be piped to Bayou Dupont via a 1 meter pipe, to an 500 acre area of open water and broken marsh. Once the area has been adequately filled, it will be planted with marsh grasses. It is estimated that the project will cost $28 million and be completed by August 2009.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put up $3 million in the summer of 2009 in federal stimulus grants to restore a protective marsh that will shield the island from backwater flooding. The money will help Grand Isle strengthen its natural defenses, provide better hurricane protection, while also preserving a critical barrier island that buffers inland parishes from the full force of hurricanes. In 2009, the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources used $3 million to dredge sediment from the Mississippi River and create 50 acres of tidal marsh. Not only will the marsh help support recreational and commercial fisheries by providing a healthy habitat, officials said, but it will also buffer the island and reduce storm surge and flooding.

Also in 2009, the Nature Conservancy received a $4 million grant for its Grand Isle shoreline-restoration project, which will create four miles of oyster reefs along the beach in Grand Isle and Biloxi Marsh. (see Oyster Reef Restoration) The frames eventually grow into 2- to 3-foot-high oyster reefs that buffer the shore and create productive ocean habitats for fish. Once these reefs have fully restored themselves, they will also help filter the water. The Nature Conservancy hope that these oysters colonize on breakwater structures and that the space on these breakwater structures increase biodiversity.

In response the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the Coalition and the National Wildlife Foundation organized the planting of more than 1,600 mangroves in Grand Isle State Park on June 25th, 2011. They hope that this planting will help stabilize the sediment and sand and provide habitat for wildlife, specifically pelicans.

On September 29th, 2012, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) and the Abita Brewing Company partnered together to bring out more than 100 volunteers to help restore and protect the beach dunes at Grand Isle State Park in response to Hurricane Isaac (2012). It was the first project undertaken in Grand Isle since Hurricane Issac made landfall. Volunteers installed dune fences and planted more than 12,000 plugs of dune grass. This will help stabilize the fragile beach along Grand Isle. Abita Beer and CRCL together implemented this and other restoration projects which will directly restore dune habitat and strengthen Grand Isle State Park and other sites in the future. “Save Our Shore: Volunteer for the Coast” restoration projects such as this one will also allow volunteers the opportunity to learn about coastal land loss while participating in projects that promote Louisiana’s ties to our coast and culture.