Dear Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority members,
The undersigned groups appreciate this opportunity to share our collective supporting comments on the West Grand Terre Beach Nourishment and Stabilization Project, submitted by the State of Louisiana for RESTORE Council consideration for the first Funded Priorities List of the RESTORE Pot 2 Council-selected projects.
We represent a coalition of conservation interests that have worked for decades to restore a healthy Gulf of Mexico ecosystem – starting with prompt restoration of the Mississippi River Delta – reconnecting the Mississippi River to its delta to protect communities, environment, and economies. Our groups continue to recommend urgent action on projects that will reduce land loss and restore wetlands in the Mississippi River Delta through comprehensive restoration actions that have the potential to provide multiple benefits and services over the long term to the entire Gulf of Mexico.
West Grand Terre Barrier Island is part of the barrier island chain separating the productive and economically important Barataria Bay estuary from the Gulf of Mexico. These islands provide habitat for migratory birds, wildlife, and fish. They also serve as the first line of defense in protecting nearby coastal communities from devastating storm surge as well as protecting the interior coastal habitats of Barataria Bay, which includes bottomland hardwood forests, cypress swamps, marshes ranging from fresh to saltwater, from high energy waves and saltwater intrusion. However, increasing tidal forces caused by ever-growing interior bays, canals, navigation channels, subsidence, wave action and sea level rise have all attributed to the erosion and retreat of these barrier islands. This erosion has led to loss of the island and back marsh habitats and threatened the entire interior Barataria Bay estuarine ecosystem.
The West Grand Terre Beach Nourishment and Marsh Stabilization Project provides the Council with an opportunity to fund one project within a larger effort to restore the Barataria Basin Barrier Shoreline. Other reaches of the shoreline have been or will be funded through state surplus funds, the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA), Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). Together these individual projects will re-establish 2 barrier shorelines critical for protecting nearby communities, will restore important migratory and shore bird habitat and will improve the ecosystem function of the barrier island system, preventing the wholesale loss of the lower Barataria Bay estuary.
Our groups support the development of the West Grand Terre Beach Nourishment and Marsh Stabilization Project. We commend the selection of this important segment of the Barataria Bay Barrier Shoreline by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. We look forward to the construction of this project within the next few years as funding becomes available.