America's Wetland Foundation Provides Tour of Shoreline Stabilization, Restoration Project

The America's Wetland Foundation (AWF) provided a tour of the foundation's Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) Shoreline Stabilization and Restoration Project for representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

AWF developed the project as a response to shoreline erosion and saltwater intrusion killing fresh marshes along the GIWW in Lafourche Parish, La. The project utilizes green products with native plants and brings private investment and landowners to the restoration program. With a host of public and private partners, environmental, economic and community interests can benefit from the new model of cooperation.

The tour allowed the federal agency to see progress made since the completion of phase one of the project, which restores a one-mile stretch along the Gulf-facing side of the GIWW. The location is in an area where embankments have been lost to tidal surge, threatening freshwater marshes with saltwater intrusion and taking private lands bordering the canal. The entire project involves a four-mile section of the GIWW shoreline, with phase two projected to begin this year on the north-facing side of the GIWW.

"We are proud to tackle an important impediment to coastal restoration - shoreline creep along the GIWW," Sidney Coffee, AWF senior advisor, said. "This canal has become a virtual line of demarcation between freshwater marshes and saltwater intrusion and we were pleased to see how well the project is doing since the new products have been put in place to secure the shoreline. By embedding native vegetation in recycled permeable PET products to protect the embankment at a fraction of the time and cost of other methods, this could be a game changer and could be replicated all along the waterway."

Although funding priorities do not include the GIWW in the state's coastal master plan, the importance of the waterway's viability is not questioned and the project is consistent with the master plan. While it is a contention of both the state of Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that the other has responsibility for the canal, both agree that ensuring the waterway is not compromised further by erosion is critical.

"We see this as a transition project," Coffee said. "If we can keep viable wetlands from further deterioration, the larger scale efforts like diversions have a better chance of taking hold."

The America's Wetland Foundation partnered with a group of diverse interests who have history and expertise with wetland restoration, including Ducks Unlimited, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the state of Louisiana, the Gulf Intracoastal Canal Assn., private companies and private landowners.

Where erosion is destroying tracts of land south of the GIWW, private landowners hold the greatest land acreage and therefore have played a key role in the implementation of the project. Ted Falgout, a landowner partner on the project, said, "Private landowners have looked for ways to participate in restoration and many are interested in cost effective solutions and a reasonable process that will restore their lost land. It's our hope that this project can be replicated all along the canal through Louisiana and Texas."

Both traditional and innovative technology will be utilized the in the form of low cost bucket dredges and a vegetated, recycled plastic matrix material called Vegetated EcoShield manufactured by Baton Rouge-based Martin Ecosystems.

"EcoShield is produced from recycled, post-consumer plastic and protects shorelines and stabilizes banks, while promoting vegetative growth," Ted Martin, president of Martin Ecosystems, said. "Providing a protective medium for vegetation to establish, grow and spread enhances the natural processes of the system by creating vegetative shorelines and important coastal habitats." The program also enhances freshwater marsh creation and contributes to carbon sequestration, adding to the environmental benefits of the approach.

Source: AWF