Common Goals Unite Citizens, Industry, CWPPRA Agencies
Landowner Support Essential to Breaux Act Projects

Across coastal Louisiana, once-thriving wetlands subside and convert to open water. Erosion unearths oil pipelines and destroys fish habitat. Barrier islands breach and wash away, exposing oyster beds to saltwater predators.

Those who live, work and play on Louisiana’s coast recognize land loss as a threat to their way of life, making them “natural supporters of coastal restoration,” says Joyce Montgomery, land specialist with the Office of Coastal Restoration and Management, Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

“Landowners, leaseholders and companies that operate in the state’s wetlands want to protect their investments — fishing and hunting camps, oyster leases, oil and gas infrastructure,” Montgomery says. “Once they understand what a project is about — what we want to do, what benefit it will have — most of them get behind us 100 percent. That’s when we begin to work together.”

CWPPRA agencies communicate early and often with landowners and land users. “They give us valuable information about the property, such as locations of pipelines, old cemeteries and other sites we don’t want to disturb,” Montgomery explains. “We keep all stakeholders informed about a project’s progress. That builds good working relationships with the people who own and work the land.”

Property Owners, Pipeline Companies Make Room for Shoreline Protection

In the Barataria Basin, erosion and subsidence claim wetlands at an alarming rate, as much as 100 feet per year on the banks of Bayou Perot and Bayou Rigolettes. “Land loss here threatens numerous industries — oil and gas, commercial crabbing and shrimping, fur trapping, and alligator hunting and egg collecting — as well as recreational hunting and fishing,” says Quin Kinler of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

To slow the pace of land loss, the Barataria Basin Landbridge Shoreline Protection projects (BA-27, BA-27c and BA-27d) are installing rock dikes and concrete panel structures along 107,500 feet of bayou and lake shoreline.

Local landowners were eager to help the project succeed, obtaining signatures from the co-owners of their property and requesting cooperation from leaseholders. One camp owner assumed the cost of removing his pier to allow construction, then rebuilding it after the project was complete.

As the project began, planners were reminded of the area’s long history of human habitation: At four sites lay shell middens, piles of clam shells, pottery shards and other artifacts discarded thousands of years ago by Native American ancestors of the Chitimacha tribe. Erosion had already claimed one midden and severely damaged the other three.

“When construction is complete, project features will protect the artifacts that remain at each of the sites. At one of these, we re-aligned our structure to protect but not interfere with the site,” Kinler says. “To preserve another midden, we changed our construction technique so we wouldn’t have to dredge a channel through the site. At the other two locations, our features as originally conceived will protect the remaining artifacts.”

Where a hunting lease lay behind shoreline protection, DNR and NRCS left hunters an opening in the protective structure. “We needed to leave a gap in shoreline protection to allow fish into the marsh. We met the hunters’ need for access by locating that gap near a pond they use,” Montgomery says.

Prior to construction, CWPPRA partners had to locate the numerous pipelines crisscrossing the project area so contractors could avoid damaging the pipes. “The oil companies lowered or removed pipelines at their own expense so we could safely access the project area,” Montgomery notes. Under their agreement with DNR, the companies can temporarily move the project’s protective structures when they need access to buried pipelines.

“Property owners and oil companies played such a big part in helping this project succeed,” Montgomery says. “We’re glad we were able to adjust project features to accommodate their needs without compromising the project’s effectiveness.”

Fishermen, Oil Companies Invest in Wetlands’ Future

Along a stretch of dune and wetlands reaching from Pass La Mer to Chaland Pass, 2002 hurricanes Isidore and Lili breached the fragile shoreline. Powerful waves from the Gulf of Mexico tore at the foundation of an oil company’s production facility, threatening to topple the structure. Saltwater intrusion changed the salinity of the marsh, exposing once thriving oyster colonies to saltwater predators like red drum and oyster drills.

To restore the shoreline, the first phase of the Barataria Barrier Island Complex Project (BA-38) rebuilt or created more than 400 acres of dune and marsh habitat.

“Restoring the shoreline creates better oyster habitat by holding back fresh water and blocking saltwater intrusion,” explains Jason Shackelford, a coastal resources scientist with DNR. “But in order to realize that benefit, we had to buy out portions of several oyster leases within the project footprint.”

After adjusting the project boundaries to affect the fewest possible leases, DNR met with the fishermen. “They were willing to sell some of their leases based on the project’s future benefit to the remaining oyster beds,” Shackelford says. “With salinity behind the shore increasing, they had seen their leases lose productivity from year to year.”

Because of the density of oil and gas infrastructure in the area, CWPPRA partners DNR and NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), also worked with oil companies to find the dozens of pipelines buried within the project zone.

“Some of these lines dated from the 1950s, which made finding documentation showing their locations difficult,” says V.J. Marretta, DNR land specialist. “The oil companies helped us locate pipelines, then assumed responsibility for deactivating, moving or removing them so we could build the project.”

Part of one still-active oilfield canal ran through the project’s marsh creation area, so DNR dredged a replacement canal outside the project area, then built marsh using the dredged material. At their own expense, the companies plugged inactive wells and removed abandoned facilities.

“The coastal wetlands protect our pipelines, employees and facilities from the rough conditions in the gulf,” says a spokesman for a local oil company. “Initially we had many questions about how the project would impact us, but we were able to work with the CWPPRA agencies to resolve every problem. The benefits of this project are well worth the money and effort we invested in it.”