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Profiles in Coastal Restoration: HESCO Bastion

Profiles in Coastal Restoration: HESCO Bastion

By Will Lindsey, Environmental Defense Fund Louisiana-based company HESCO Bastion Environmental, Inc. is at the forefront of business innovations in response to the growing market for coastal restoration projects. Finding new uses for established products, the company is now involved in creating artificial oyster reefs and protective structures for wetlands. This arena of work is expected to expand and create more jobs in coastal communities as the RESTORE Act funds and other monies from the BP oil spill begin to …

Profiles in Resilience: Royal Engineering & Consultants, LLC

By Kaitlin Brown, Environmental Defense Fund “We look at coastal restoration as the future of our company.” — Dwayne Bernal, CEO, Royal Engineering Royal Engineering & Consultants, LLC (Royal), a New Orleans-based engineering and consulting firm, is one of the many innovative businesses committed to rebuilding the Gulf Coast after the 2010 Gulf oil disaster. Led by CEO Dwayne Bernal, Royal is dedicated to serving the public in a way that focuses not only on individual projects, but also on …

Nominations Open for 2013 CRCL Coastal Stewardship Awards

From the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana: Restoring and protecting the natural treasure of Louisiana’s coast is a duty embraced by many people with diverse backgrounds. Some may be volunteers, students, researchers, sportsmen, governmental or business leaders, or simply coastal citizens who care enough about the future of our state to take action. Every year the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) is proud to honor and individuals and organizations who demonstrate extraordinary commitment to the coast with a CRCL …

Duck Commander Urges Restoration of Mississippi River Delta's Imperiled Wetlands

This release was originally posted by Vanishing Paradise. By Chris Macaluso, Louisiana Wildlife Federation Duck Commander, a world-leader in the manufacture of duck calls and waterfowl hunting equipment and the company featured in the A&E television program “Duck Dynasty,” recently added its name to a list of more than 800 businesses and organizations to sign a letter urging Congress to support the restoration of the Mississippi River Delta’s imperiled wetlands. The letter is part of the Vanishing Paradise campaign’s efforts …

Nominations Sought For Top State Conservation Awards

(November 30, 2012 – BATON ROUGE, LA) The Louisiana Wildlife Federation (LWF) is accepting nominations for the 49th Governor’s State Conservation Achievement Awards. The program recognizes those persons and organizations making outstanding contributions to the natural resource welfare and environmental quality of the community, parish and state. There are eight award categories for which nominations can be made. They are: professional; volunteer; business; educator; youth; elected official; communications and organization. Nominations will be accepted until January 21, 2013. The awards …

The Power of We: The Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign

By Happy Johnson, Amanda Moore and Elizabeth Skree Our Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign works to reconnect the Mississippi River to its delta to protect people, wildlife and jobs. At our core, we are the “Power of We”: a coalition of five national and local non-governmental organizations — the National Audubon Society, Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation — working together to save a national treasure: the Mississippi River Delta. The …

Community Conversations on Coastal Restoration

By Happy Johnson, National Wildlife Federation Louisiana is facing a coastal crisis. We lose one football field of wetlands every hour. 1,900 square miles of land has been lost already since the 1930s, and another 1,800 square miles are expected to be lost within the next 50 years unless we implement significant coastal restoration projects. Coastal land loss has strong, direct impacts on all communities, especially Black and Vietnamese fishing populations in the Mississippi River Delta. Without urgent restoration of …

The Next 50 Years: Transition for Coastal Communities

By Maura Wood (National Wildlife Federation) and Brian Jackson (Environmental Defense Fund) For decades, the people of southern Louisiana have gradually struggled with the collapse of the Mississippi River Delta. Land that once provided shelter from hurricanes, space for agriculture, a basis for livelihoods and a source for recreation has — sometimes in one generation — disappeared. This slow-motion crisis has forced communities and economies along Louisiana’s coast to adapt to collapse. Large-scale restoration of the delta provides new hope …

Meet Alisha Renfro

Alisha Renfro is the staff scientist for the National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) Mississippi River Delta Restoration program. Based in New Orleans, she provides accurate scientific information to help advocate for the best coastal restoration projects for Louisiana. She also helps translate scientific information for the Mississippi River Delta Restoration Campaign’s public outreach and communication efforts. Prior to joining NWF, Alisha had been actively involved in research examining beach erosion in South Carolina, sediment transport in tidal riverine marshes  and swamps …

Profiles in Resilience: Ecology and Environment, Inc.

This is the next in our “Profiles in Resilience” series, highlighting companies that work on coastal restoration in the Mississippi River Delta and Gulf Coast.  By Audrey Payne, Environmental Defense Fund Ecology and Environment, Inc. (E & E) is an environmental consulting firm that was founded in 1970 and prides itself on its ability to get “the most environmental bang for your buck.” A few of their projects include helping countries around the world write environmental policy; working on environmental …

Profiles in Resilience: Biohabitats, Inc.

This piece builds on the “Profiles in Resilience” series started on Environmental Defense Fund’s Restoration and Resilience blog. Please check back here for future installments. By Audrey Payne, Environmental Defense Fund “Restoring the earth, one community at a time.…” This tagline appears on the website of Biohabitats, Inc., an ecologically-driven company based in Baltimore, Md. Biohabitats specializes in conservation planning, ecological restoration and regenerative design and does restoration work in the Everglades, Big Cypress and Tampa Bay, Fla.; Texas and …

Christian Marsh – Be a part of Louisiana’s next restoration success story

This was originally posted on the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana‘s Coast Currents blog. By Scott Madere, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana If it’s one thing we can count on at the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), it’s the hard work and enthusiasm of our volunteers. Since our Community Based Restoration Program was created in 2000, more than 8,000 volunteers have joined us on the front lines of our coast, directly restoring 3,600 acres of wetlands. Next week marks …

Restoring the Lower 9th Ward: A resilient vision for New Orleans

This post was originally published on the National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Promise blog. By Amanda Moore, National Wildlife Federation’s Coastal Louisiana Organizer in New Orleans What would you do if, in one day, you lost everything? I’m not just talking about your personal possessions; I’m talking about your entire community — your church, your grocery store, your school. The folks you meet in the video below, Warrenetta Banks and John Taylor, have lived out this scenario every day since Hurricane …

Meet Shannon Cunniff

Shannon is the deputy director for the Mississippi River Delta Restoration and Resilience Project at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Working closely with the senior director, Shannon focuses on improving strategic and tactical effectiveness of the EDF team. She works on setting team goals, objectives and strategies; translating those into work plans; and evaluating progress to ensure timely, high-quality products. She manages staff scientists, policy analysts and consultants to solve complex problems and execute tasks. Shannon is no stranger to flood …

Job opening: Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana

Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) is a non-profit advocacy organization established in 1988 to unite business interests, scientists, landowners, national and local conservation groups, local governments, hunters, anglers and a broad spectrum of concerned citizens in a shared mission of restoring and protecting a sustainable coastal Louisiana. CRCL seeks to hire a Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator to coordinate three distinct stakeholder engagement initiatives designed to build support for comprehensive restoration of the Mississippi River Delta region. The Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator …