Coastal restoration is under the microscope at U.N.O as part of a partner project between the federal government and the state of Louisiana.
The study began in August 2011 and focuses on using freshwater and nutrients from the Mississippi River to restore coastal marshes.
Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s Bren Haase says land loss is one of the scariest issues facing people who live and work along Louisiana’s coast, “It threatens our way of life. It threatens the economy, it threatens our culture.”
To stop the threat, C.P.R.A joins with the Army Corps of Engineers and developed a plan, “The Mississippi River Hydrodynamic and Delta Management Study,” says Haase.
The MRHDMS is a cost shared study between the state and the Corps of Engineers with a price tag of $25.3 million.
The study looks at more natural ways to operate major diversions of sediment down river, “This is laying the ground work so that we can understand what happens to the river and what happens on the basin side when we start to implement some of the projects.”
Haase says tools are in development now to make wiser environmental decisions in the future, “We are working hard to reach the answers to many of the questions that are being raised about implementing restoration in coastal Louisiana.”
Wednesday’s public seminar was part of a conference continuing thru Friday at U.N.O.
The U.N.O. Laboratory for Coastal Restoration Science is a worldwide research leader.
More information is available online