LaPLACE – An announced vote approving a $130 million project to restore Maurepas Swamp near New Orleans is a great shot in the arm but more coastal restoration work must be done, a spokesman for a Washington-based environmental group said.
The U.S. Army Corps of engineers could provide greater restoration hand-in-hand with the vote by the RESTORE Council, according to what Environmental Defense Fund Ecosystems and Coastal Resilience communications manager Jacques P. Hebert told the Louisiana Record.
“While this vote is a big step forward, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has the power to help this restoration project advance with greater urgency and at a lower cost to the public by including it as a mitigation option for the nearby West Shore Lake Pontchartrain levee project," Hebert said. "Selecting the Maurepas diversion for mitigation makes sense for the ecosystem, and will enable the state of Louisiana to commit precious restoration funding to other important projects across the coast. It would also provide the most environmentally beneficial mitigation for the levee project by enhancing the ecosystem the levee project will damage."
The Environmental Defense Fund also is gearing up to participate in the Maurepas Swamp media tour in a couple of weeks to call greater attention to "one of Louisiana’s most vibrant swamps," information about the tour said.
"Home to species like alligators, bald eagles, large-mouth bass and more, the Maurepas Swamp is representative of the habitat and wildlife that makes our landscape so special and recognizable — while contributing to the $1.5 billion in revenue generated every year from outdoor recreation opportunities," the media tour information official said. "However, the coastal master plan shows this area would be inundated if urgent action is not taken to restore it."
On Feb. 12, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced that the RESTORE Council, responsible for allocating funds from Clean Water Act fines paid in the aftermath of the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill, had approved $130 million to fund the River Reintroduction into the Maurepas Swamp project. Approval of the funds was widely viewed as a major win in Louisiana's coastal restoration program.
The funds are expected to help pay for restoration of Maurepas Swamp by delivering fresh water and sediment from the Mississippi River into the swamp located about 30 miles northwest of New Orleans.
The swamp has been starved of freshwater since levees cut it off from the Mississippi River, according to information provided withe the announced funds. The swamp also has been threatened by salt that periodically flows into the swamp via canals and from Lake Pontchartrain.
Maurepas Swamp's bald cypress and tupelo gum trees have for decades been dying, and marsh grasses have crept in as some parts of the swamp have become open water.
The announced funding is expected to pay for the largest project thus far in restoring Louisiana's coast, taking in about benefit 45,000 acres of Maurepas Swamp.
"The Maurepas Swamp is not just an amazing and beautiful swamp and wildlife management area, but it is also a crucial, natural buffer between hurricane winds and storm surge," Edwards said during the live-streamed news conference announcing the approved funds. "If we let this swamp continue to die off we would be putting many large communities in this region at increased risk."
The Environmental Defense Fund received a heads-up about the then possible funding last fall, Hebert said.
"We first learned about the funding when the RESTORE Council announced that it had included the river reintroduction Into Maurepas Swamp as a priority for funding in its draft funding priorities list in October 2019," he said.
The swamps restoration has long been a priority in the area for the Environmental Defense Fund, which issued a coalition statement after the funding was announced.
This is the coalition statement following its selection for funding last week on the significance and need for this project:
“The river reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp project is vital to protecting one of the largest remaining swamps in the gulf in the face of habitat loss and climate change. The RESTORE Council's funding of this project will benefit wildlife, such as the bald eagle, that depend on the swamp for habitat and people that benefit from the buffer it provides from storms and sea level rise."