Coastal Restoration in Louisiana
An Urgent Need
Bountiful coastal marshes, swamps, bayous and estuaries teeming with life, Louisiana’s coastal wetlands are a cultural and economic treasure. Within Louisiana’s 5,727 square miles of coastal wetlands, there exists:
- more than half of the tidal marshes found in the lower 48 states
- oil and gas pipelines that deliver more than a quarter of the nation’s energy supplies
- the world’s largest port system
- fisheries that supply more than a quarter of the seafood consumed in the lower 48 states
During the 20th century, coastal Louisiana lost 1,900 square miles of land, representing 1.2 million acres of an irreplaceable national resource. Just since 1956, more than 1,500 square miles of the wetlands on Louisiana’s coast have vanished—a land area half again larger than the state of Rhode Island. Even now, coastal land continues to turn to water, and scientists forecast that, if we do not expand our efforts to slow the rate of loss, 2,400 square miles of Louisiana will be under water within 50 years—a third of the entire Louisiana coast.
Recognizing this, the citizens of Louisiana and former U.S. Sen. John Breaux took action in the 1980s. In 1989, the Louisiana legislature established funding for wetlands restoration and the majority of the citizens approved a constitutional amendment ensuring that funding was secure. Breaux then helped author and coordinate passage of the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA), commonly called the “Breaux Act.” The Act is the realization of Breaux’s vision of an integrated effort among government and scientific resources, private industry and concerned citizens, working as one, to preserve the coastal wetlands and rich aquatic ecosystem they support.
Breaux realized it was crucial to have reliable funding and all the players cooperating toward the common goals of wetland restoration. In speaking at a Coastal America Awards ceremony in August 2004, Breaux recalled, “Everybody was studying the problem but never really had the tools financially … to take the studies off the shelf, out of the libraries and begin to implement them …”
Although commercial and sports fishermen have watched Louisiana's wetlands decline, the Breaux Act program represents new hope for the coast and the fisheries it supports.
Equally important was his vision of the Breaux Act Task Force. The former senator remarked, “Because of the traditional turf battles we have in Washington when you’re dealing with all the federal agencies, … each one of the agencies said they can do it better than the rest. And I understand that. … It’s a degree of pride in the work they do. [However,] we created the Task Force, which I felt was the best way to combine the talents of all the agencies and all the departments … with the state of Louisiana participating as an equal partner, … a task force where truly everybody is in the lead.”
Now, 14 years later, the Task Force has developed a complex restoration plan (Coast 2050), authorized 131 projects, designed dozens of them and constructed and placed 66 in operation. Another 65 projects are either in design or construction phases. More than 50,000 acres of wetlands have been protected or restored to date compared to what would have been present if we did nothing. Since 1991, the Breaux Act has funneled $33 million to $62 million a year in federal funding to Louisiana coastal restoration projects.
While no one will dispute there is a very long way to go, vital information has been gathered, and our understanding of coastal restoration has developed in ways that allow preservation to adapt, adjust and ultimately expand in new directions.