The Water Marks Interview: David Richard
David Richard
David Richard is executive vice president of Stream Property Management Inc., a private company that manages the Stream family estate in southwestern Louisiana, as well as 175,000 acres of corporate land in southern Louisiana. He also manages Stream Wetland Services, a consulting company specializing in wetlands restoration. Prior to his current position, he spent 16 years as a wildlife biologist with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Q Why is the private sector motivated to address the problems of coastal wetlands loss?
A In the case of the Stream family, it's their awareness that long-term benefits come from being a good steward of the land. They know the advantages of maintaining and, whenever possible, enhancing wetlands. For some corporations, however, the motivation is also regulatory requirements. The policy initiated by the Bush administration requiring "no net loss" of wetlands meant mitigation efforts had to be put in place - if you destroyed an acre, you had to replace an acre.
Q Have privately owned wetlands suffered the same kinds of losses as public wetlands?
A Privately owned lands, which make up 85 percent of Louisiana's coastal wetlands, have been abused just like public lands. Large public projects have destroyed private wetlands and public wetlands alike. For example, the shipping channels that cut across the natural hydrologic barriers have allowed salt water to intrude into privately owned marshes, and the impact has been huge. Upland drainage projects have altered the natural supply of fresh water downstream and have caused flooding during wet periods and deprivation of fresh water during dry periods.
In the broadest sense, industrialization is really the culprit. But I don't think these changes were made maliciously; the consequences of actions just weren't known at the time. People were familiar with the bounty of the land and didn't think it could ever be seriously affected.
Q So what needs to be done?
A We have to be committed to not only restoring public wetlands but private wetlands as well. But we can't change what was done over 100 years in five years, and it can't be done without outside money. Through the Stream companies, we work very hard at securing wetlands restoration money from large funding sources.
Q How do you feel about current federal and state efforts to save the coastal wetlands?
Louisiana moved forward on this issue long before the federal government. The state has been in the forefront of making wetlands loss a national issue because the people of Louisiana recognized the problem.
A CWPPRA is a great project, but in its present form is underfunded for the monumental tasks needed. If you think about the huge navigation, flood control and drainage projects and the public money that was spent on them, it's clear that the budget for restoring the damage they caused needs to be increased logarithmically. One hurricane on the coast can cause so much damage that we can see right away that the funds are inadequate.
Q What is the relationship between private companies like yours and CWPPRA?
A We work with public agencies at both the idea and implementation stages. We have also donated the land rights and private matching funds for restoration projects taking place on property owned by the Stream family and put together similar arrangements on other corporate land. In some instances, we have provided input to parishes who were trying to be certain that restoration dollars were being funneled to areas that need it most.
Q What do you see for the future of coastal wetlands?
A I'm very optimistic. In any problem-solving process you have to recognize the problem, formulate solutions and finally implement them. We're past the recognition stage and are into formulation and implementation.
It's a particular challenge to help the private landowner. We can't just say, "Let nature take its course," when there have been such tremendous alterations to nature - that would be catastrophic. Our only option is through management.
But we need more education, more awareness and more money. There's such a spirit in Louisiana for all of this, but I don't know if that's true in Washington. Our own congressional delegation is solidly behind CWPPRA and other wetlands restoration efforts. I'm optimistic that this is a challenge that can be met, but it will take lots of work and lots of time.