Gov. John Bel Edwards announced last week that three large-scale coastal restoration projects are now under construction to restore more than 2,900 acres of beach, dune, marsh and ridge in southeast Louisiana. All three projects are financed by money coming from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
The Spanish Pass marsh restoration near the town of Venice, the West Grand Terre barrier island restoration near Grand Isle, and the Golden Triangle marsh restoration east of New Orleans and Chalmette, will address significant land loss due to erosion and subsidence and restore a combined total of nearly 5 square miles of coastal land.
Those funds are administered and approved for use by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council, the National Resource Damage Assessment, and the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group.
The Spanish Pass project will build more than 1,500 acres of marsh and 132 acres of ridge in Plaquemines Parish. The West Grand Terre Beach project will address the area’s significant shoreline erosion and marsh subsidence by restoring over 371 acres of beach and dune and 160 acres of back-barrier marsh, and the Golden Triangle project will reduce storm surge, increase flood protection and restore estuary habitat in Orleans and St. Bernard parishes. See Edwards’ announcement.
