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The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana

Coastal Programs Spring 2006

 

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita touched every human community and natural place in southern Louisiana in some way. After an initial internal assessment of personal and properties welfare in September 2005, much of the focus of The Nature Conservancy of Louisiana (TNC) has been directed toward the Gulf Coast. The damage from the hurricanes was staggering: 120 square miles of marsh in southeast Louisiana was converted to open water; 50% of the Chandeleur barrier island chain was eroded away; 5000 square miles of coastal forest was severely damaged; 2000 square miles of marsh in southwest Louisiana was inundated by salt water; and 50% of the identified portfolio sites for TNC were moderately to severely damaged. The protection and rebuilding of Louisiana’s coast is of local, state, and national concern.

 

As the world’s leading non-profit conservation organization, TNC has been active in coastal Louisiana for many years. In the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, TNC is increasing their coastal conservation activity. We are in a unique position to generate public and private support for efforts to save coastal Louisiana’s threatened biodiversity. We are committed to delivering the message that restoration decisions must place an emphasis on managing for the range of coastal and marine habitats and species, and that restoration decisions have a direct effect on the welfare of our coastal towns and communities. TNC is working in collaboration with local, state, and federal partners to secure funding for large scale restoration efforts, which will protect both human and natural communities.

 

The eco-region known as the Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes is recognized by TNC as one of the most vital but endangered habitat systems in the world. With offices and programs located in Grand Isle, Lake Charles, St.Tammany Parish, and Breaux Bridge, TNC addresses coastal conservation issues at a community-based level. Some of our current coastal programs include:

 

  • Grand Isle Community Restoration. Seven years ago TNC established an office on Grand Isle and most recently purchased the last remaining forested tract on the island. These forests were publicly credited by the mayor as helping the island withstand the wind and waves from both Katrina and Rita. TNC is expanding its work on the island to include more reforestation, education, and oyster bed restoration (a natural barrier against the effects of storm surge; in cooperation with Nichols State University). 

 

  • Coastal Prairie Restoration. In the aftermath of Rita, many farmers are facing economic ruin. Expanding its work, TNC will partner with McNeese State University to develop a seed source that will be used for coastal prairie restoration. In concert with that effort, TNC is working with state and federal agencies to partner with local land owners to restore nearly 20,000 acres of coastal prairie in an area that historically supported over 2 million acres of prairie. This effort will provide farmers with an alternative use of their land and an economic return for restoring their land to native coastal prairie. 

 

  • Coastal Forest Protection. In southwest Louisiana, Hurricane Rita caused damage to important habitats ranging from coastal cheniers to brackish and freshwater marshes to coastal forest. In addition to working with land owners to protect important marsh habitat TNC has worked to protect coastal cheniers and forests. In recent years, TNC has helped preserve several important cheniers, and in the coming years we would like to leverage important funding programs to preserve even more coastal forest. It is increasingly apparent that coastal forests serve as an important buffer against hurricane storm surge. TNC has worked to restore bottomland hardwood forest at its Cypress Island preserve as well as protecting other coastal forest around Lakes Maurepas and Manchac, and along the Lower Pearl River. Working with the Department of Natural Resources, TNC is expanding its coastal forestry work to provide habitat for rare and endangered species of plants and animals as well as protecting human communities from potential future storm impacts.

 

  • The Lower Pearl River Basin. The Lower Pearl River Basin, located along the border of southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi, is the outlet of one of the most intact river systems in the southern United States. The Pearl River Basin’s large blocks of contiguous bottomland hardwood forest provide critical stopover and nesting habitat for neotropical migratory birds that make the long journey over the Gulf of Mexico. The Lower Pearl River’s healthy marsh complex helps maintain a viable fisheries industry in Louisiana and Mississippi. In addition to primary stresses to the river system, including excess sedimentation, altered hydrology, contamination, and habitat disturbance and fragmentation, the Pearl River watershed took a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane caused significant damage to the bottomland forests and emergent marsh system. With time and the continued careful management of TNC, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy of Mississippi and the Louisiana and Mississippi Departments of Environmental Quality, the natural systems of the Lower Pearl River Basin should recover.

 

TNC works in partnership with universities, organizations, and agencies to find sound and reliable scientific techniques to ensure coastal protection and restoration along with the wise expenditure of resources. The next step in coastal protection involves many hours of working with land owners who are interested in becoming a part of coastal restoration. TNC will begin working with land owners along the coast from the Sabine River in the west to the Pearl River in the east. A variety of programs will protect and restore thousands of acres along Louisiana’s coast.

 

Protecting vital and vulnerable human communities in south Louisiana cannot be separated from the restoration and protection of coastal prairies, coastal forests, marsh lands, and aquatic habitat. Private donations from TNC supporters enable TNC staff to work with federal and state programs to leverage millions of dollars for coastal programs. In the near future, TNC will be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of its work by the number of land owners partnered with, the numbers acres protected and restored, the establishment of a viable seed source program for restoring coastal prairies, and dollars spent helping to protect habitat and providing alternative sources of income for land owners throughout coastal Louisiana.