Volunteers Work to Protect Fourchon Beach

A 5,000-foot sand-trapping fence built by volunteers along Fourchon Beach in south Louisiana is creating new sand dunes that will help protect the beach from further deterioration from the Gulf of Mexico.

Over 150 volunteers worked on the project last April in an effort organized on the local level by the Lafourche-Terrebonne Soil and Water Conservation District. Other agencies and sponsors involved included the U.S. Department of Agriculture — Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Louisiana Serve Commission of the Office of Lt. Governor Kathleen Blanco, Americorps members, and Chevron Oil Company.

"I can't say enough about the volunteers and their work to help our parish," said Warren J. Harang Jr., chairman of the local conservation district. "The volunteers, who included conservation district, NRCS and coastal zone management personnel, really worked hard that weekend to install the fence in the wind and rain. They hauled heavy posts, dug post holes, attached fabric webbing and did the hundreds of things necessary for the demanding job."

Over the years Fourchon Beach has been ravaged by wave action created by storms and hurricanes. According to Don Gohmert, NCRS state conservationist, sand-trapping fences have been successful in similar situations. "The constant wind from the Gulf blows sand and sediment along beaches and other shorelines, and the fences will help trap those particles to start the formation of sand dunes. The fence at Fourchon will work with nature to form sand dunes that will lessen and absorb the force of waves from the Gulf and also protect adjoining fragile interior estuary and marsh areas from erosion," said Gohmert.

The dunes and marsh areas along Fourchon Beach, which is near Grand Isle, work together to decrease storm surges and the resulting flooding of homes and businesses during tropical storms or hurricanes. The new dunes will be stabilized with plants and planting techniques developed by the NRCS plant materials program.