Coalition to restore coastal louisiana

CLIMATE CHALLENGE: rising seas

GRANT AWARD: $124,962; Year Awarded: 2018

In Louisiana, the combined effects of subsiding land, leveed rivers, marsh channelization, sea level rise, intensifying storms, and anthropogenic disturbances have contributed to the loss of 1,900 sq. mi. of marsh habitat along the Gulf of Mexico. To promote ecosystem resiliency and the transition of wildlife populations and the resources they depend on to systems that tolerate/function at higher sea levels, this project will implement a “recycled oyster shell living shoreline” in Barataria Bay. Discarded oyster shells from partner restaurants will be bagged and placed in gabion baskets along the marsh edge, where free-swimming oyster larvae will attach to the shells. As it grows, the reef will become a dynamic, living structure that dissipates wave energy and fortifies wetlands, slows the loss of 2,500 ft. of marsh edge, and establishes an adaptive ecosystem capable of withstanding a changing climate.