sessions 11-20
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 – 3:30 p.m.
Sessions
• #11 The Next Generation: Youth Perspectives on Coastal Challenges and Solutions
• #12 Ridges and berms as critical lines of defense: how berms and ridges can lower storm surge
• #13 State of the Louisiana Oyster Industry
• #14 Calcasieu-Sabine Basin: A Walk Through Coastal Restoration Efforts and Watershed Management
• #15 Water Quality and Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Characterization
(Part I of II)
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 286
#11 The Next Generation: Youth Perspectives on Coastal Challenges and Solutions
Part 1: Our Next Generation of Scientists: Researching our Drinking Water Quality and Water Systems
CSED Environmental Research Internship is a year-around education and community-beyond the school day initiative to encourage high school students to gain hands-on environmental research using Community Science experiments and activities addressing the stressors of our local drinking water quality and water systems affecting our New Orleans neighborhoods.
Moderator: Natalie Manning – CSED
Panelists:
• Arlo Townsley – CSED
• Bryce Black – CSED
• Keanohn Perkins-Willis – CSED
• Brooklyn Clinton – CSED
Organizer: Arthur Johnson – CSED
Part 2: Young People and Our Coast: Louisiana Students’ Perspectives on Coastal Issues
Given the future threats that land loss, climate change, and other issues pose on our coast, it’s more important than ever to understand how young people perceive these problems, as well as how it may be affecting their futures. This panel session hopes to add a discussion to our coastal space that is often left out. The panel session will focus on different themes that will include understanding young people’s perspective on coastal issues, desires for a future Louisiana, navigating the transition from college to the professional world, and weighing the decision of leaving and staying in Louisiana.
Moderator: Brett Pickett – CRCL
Panelists:
• Miles Jordan – LSU
• Kylie Miller – Nunez
• Valeria Bermudez – Loyola
Moderator: Brett Pickett – CRCL
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 287
#12 Ridges and berms as critical lines of defense: how berms and ridges can lower storm surge
Ridges and berms play a vital role in Louisiana’s coastal protection strategy, serving as natural buffers that reduce storm surge, slow erosion, and enhance ecosystem resilience. As climate impacts intensify, these features are gaining renewed attention within the framework of the Multiple Lines of Defense strategy—an approach that layers natural and manmade systems to protect communities. This session will explore how ridges and berms function as critical first lines of defense and examine current science, policy, and construction efforts aimed at restoring and reinforcing them. Presenters will provide an update on the construction of a major engineered berm—known as the Barataria Basin Landbridge—designed to reduce storm surge and saltwater intrusion into the heart of the basin. The session will also consider the status and future of Chenier ridge restoration in southwest Louisiana, a region where these formations are both ecologically significant and under serious threat. The session will consider of the strategic role of these features in coastal defense, the challenges of restoring them at scale, and how they fit into broader efforts to sustain Louisiana’s working coast.
Moderator: Robert Twilley – LSU
Presenters:
• Lt. Governor Nungesser
• Jonathan Willis – Nicholls State University
• Whitney Thompson – Southern Shores Engineering
• John Lopez – Delta Science
Berms and Forested Ridges: The Fastest and Most Effective Way to Save Louisiana’s Coast
Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser
Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser was President of Plaquemines Parish from 2007-2015. During that time, he fought tirelessly to protect Louisiana’s coast and fisheries through numerous hurricanes and the BP Oil Spill. Nungesser created the Plaquemines Parish Coastal Initiative as an option to obtain 100-year flood protection without raising existing levees. The plan, praised by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as “scary good”, calls for the construction of sand berms and forested ridges to lower storm surge, increase flood protection, protect critical marsh, and lower insurance rates. During this session, Lt. Governor Nungesser will review this plan and present an outlook for the future.
A Field Assessment of Soil Properties, Plant Community Characteristics, and Associated Nekton Support of Louisiana’s Coastal Ridges
Jonathan Willis – Nicholls State University
Co-authors: Bonvillain C, David S, LaFleur G, McClenachan G, Whitaker J, Ramachandran B, Nati-Johnson E, Myers E, Thiel C
Coastal ridges are linear stretches of comparatively high elevation lands within the coastal zone that intuitively provide valuable services and resources, including crucial terrestrial habitat and physical energy reduction, among others. To better quantify the characteristics of Louisiana’s coastal ridges and provide insights to potentially refine current coastal ridge restoration efforts, a field study was undertaken in the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary System. Nine ridges that span a combination of ages since formation (< 5 years, 10-15 years, > 20 years, > 50 years, reference), setting (saline, fresh to oligohaline), and origin (restored, natural, spoil bank) were characterized across a range of ecological properties. The primary ecological aspects focused on for this assessment included terrestrial vegetation extent and community composition, adjacent emergent and SAV vegetation community composition, as well as nekton, crustacean, and fish community composition in adjacent aquatic habitats, including cryptic species. Additionally, ridge geophysical characteristics, including soil physico-chemical properties, ridge elevation profile, and ridge spatial extent have been evaluated through ground-truthed measurements combined with unmanned aerial systems using both lidar and hyperspectral sensors. Interestingly, terrestrial plant species composition appears to primarily reflect maritime influence and site age, with no significant difference detected between site origin (i.e., natural ridges, restored ridges, spoil banks). Further, although restored ridges appear to fall within a similar range as reference sites for key soil metrics, certain restored sites were noted to have experienced high levels of erosion, making sustainability a concern. Finally, an overall conceptual model has been developed to integrate findings across ecological disciplines.
The Multiple Lines of Defense System and Ridge Restoration
John Lopez – Delta Science
The Multiple Lines of Defense System (MLODS) includes natural ridges and other natural features, including barrier islands, oyster reefs, land bridges, and swamps. MLODS also includes engineered elements: highway foundations, elevated homes, levees, and pumps. MLODS is a complete system by inclusion of two system compensators: insurance and evacuation. To the extent that people cannot be protected by the existing MLODS, they are evacuated. To the extent physical assets are not protected by the MLODS, they should be insured. MLODS features on the flood-side of levees become speed bumps to diminish surge velocity and height from impacting the interior levees. MLODS features on the protected-side of the levees, such as pumps and home elevation, reduce residual risk of flooding from overtopping, rainfall, or levee failure.
All MLODS elements, including ridges, should function in hydrological harmony with the surrounding landscape for estuarine functionality, habitat resilience, and biological productivity. Natural ridges partition the coast into sub-estuaries and hurricane surge basins, but are commonly breached by canals, altering the local or regional hydrology. Historic natural ridges are often the higher ground for coastal communities and habitat for migrating songbirds. For these reasons, ridge restoration and levees are ideally concentrated on historic natural ridges.
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 291
#13 State of the Louisiana Oyster Industry
Louisiana’s coast is dynamic and changing rapidly by natural processes and by human-induced activities. There is perhaps no coastal commercial fishery that represents the challenge of coastal habitat and socioeconomic change more than our oyster industry. In the last 20 years, with the progressive collapse of the primary public oyster grounds east of the Mississippi River, the state’s annual oyster harvest is now primarily due to the production efforts on the privately held oyster leases. We will look at how traditional oyster harvesters and processors are addressing these challenges to survive. We will discuss how traditional oyster fishers are investing and managing their private leases to meet production demands, and how traditional oyster dealer/processors are finding ways to stay economically solvent in these changing times. Recently, the state has also seen a substantial increase in the interest and public/private investment of diversifying the oyster industry through a new type of fishery known as alternative oyster culture (AOC). AOC, which is the use of hatchery-spawned oyster seed in floating cages for cultivation, may have a place in Louisiana to help diversify the industry but it too has many challenges to address before it becomes a significant economic component; we will explore those challenges. Lastly, we will have a state resource manager represented on the panel to help discuss how the state is addressing present and future oyster industry related research and outreach efforts. This panel will unite key voices from Louisiana’s seafood industry—including fishermen, restaurateurs, and local organizations—to spotlight innovative outreach and solutions addressing the industry’s ongoing challenges. Panelists will explore why fostering strong consumer connections is essential for preserving the Louisiana fishing community and ensuring continued access to fresh, wild caught seafood. The discussion will focus on impactful initiatives and strategies that bridge the gap between consumers and the seafood industry, driving resilience and long-term sustainability.
Moderator: Earl Melancon – Louisiana Sea Grant College Program
Panelists:
• Brad Robin – Robin’s Oyster Co.
• John Tesvich – Ameripure
• Boris Guerrero – Southern Belle Oyster Co.
• Ryan Anderson – Little Moon Oyster Ranch
• Ante’ Tesvich – Ameripure
• Austin Tinney – 504 Oyster Co.
Presenters:
• Robert Cabellero – LDWF
• Denise Kinsey – LDWF
• Elizabeth Robinson – LSG Oyster Hatchery
Organizer: Earl Melancon – Louisiana Sea Grant College Program
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 292
#14 Calcasieu-Sabine Basin: A Walk Through Coastal Restoration Efforts and Watershed Management
This session focuses on the unique challenges facing the Calcasieu-Sabine Basin, a vital system in southwest Louisiana that has experienced significant wetland loss over the past century. Persistent inundation has weakened marsh vegetation, accelerating the conversion of marshland to open water. This issue, coupled with the impacts of several direct hurricane strikes in recent decades, has exacerbated land loss in the region. The Basin is also home to key commercial and industrial features critical to the state, such as Calcasieu Lake, the Calcasieu Ship Channel, and liquefied natural gas facilities.
In response, CPRA, in collaboration with the Water Institute of the Gulf, Mott MacDonald, Inc., and Neel-Schaffer, Inc., launched a comprehensive restoration initiative in the Cameron Creole Watershed (CCW). This effort seeks to develop a regionally-integrated strategy to combat the persistent inundation stress and improve marsh health. The Calcasieu-Sabine Large-Scale Marsh and Hydrologic Restoration Project (CS-0087) is now progressing towards the implementation phase and the session’s first presentation will provide updates on these efforts.
The second presentation will explore current threats to wetland habitat in the Western Calcasieu-Sabine Basin. The third presentation will discuss the Louisiana Coastal Area Beneficial Use of Dredged Material program and its partnership with CS-0087 to enhance CCW restoration efforts. Finally, the fourth presentation will highlight the No Name Bayou Marsh Creation project and its contribution to the overall restoration of the CCW.
Moderator: Jessica Diez – CPRA
Presenters:
• Leah Selcer – Neel-Schaffer, Inc.
• Mark Mouledous – CPRA
• Darrel Broussard – United States Army Corps of Engineers
• Travis Moore – CPRA
Calcasieu-Sabine Large-Scale Marsh and Hydrologic Restoration Program Update
Leah Selcer – Neel-Schaffer, Inc.
The 65,000-acre Cameron-Creole Watershed (CCW) in southwest Louisiana has faced significant wetland habitat loss over the past century. This watershed connects hydraulically to Calcasieu Lake via five manually operated gate structures along the southeast lake rim. With accelerated sea level rise, these structures cannot sufficiently lower water levels to maintain marsh health. Persistent inundation is weakening marsh vegetation and converting marsh to open water.The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) has initiated a multi-phased effort to address this issue, culminating in the Calcasieu-Sabine Large-Scale Marsh and Hydrologic Restoration Project (CS-0087). This program aims to leverage Louisiana’s RESTORE Bucket 1 funds to reduce land loss in the Calcasieu-Sabine Basin by mitigating inundation stress in the CCW. The program’s objectives include improving vegetative productivity and reducing wetland-to-open-water conversion through two main strategies: constructing gravity drainage structures with backflow prevention along the lake rim to enhance marsh drainage into Calcasieu Lake, and implementing large-scale marsh creation and nourishment.This session will provide an update on the status of this extensive ecosystem restoration program and the implementation of CS-0087 projects.
Accelerating Land Loss Within the Western Calcasieu-Sabine Basin
Mark Mouledous – CPRA
A 2024 analysis of Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) land change data revealed an alarming trend within the Calcasieu-Sabine (CS) Basin, which was historically considered stable. Since 2021, landloss rates within this region have accelerated and have been as high as landloss on the lower deltaic plain. Marshes within this basin are largely impounded and hydrologically managed to address impacts from man-made saline navigation channels. These controls were effective in preventing saltwater intrusion and resulting landloss through the early 21st century.
The CS Basin marshes west of Calcasieu Lake were destabilized by Hurricane Rita in 2005 and Ike in 2008. Infilling of drainage pathways during the storms compromised existing drainage conveyance and caused prolonged flooding. These issues were compounded in the most recent high water period starting in 2016 which reduced drainage opportunities within the region and rendered historically effective marsh management plans obsolete.
The Calcasieu-Sabine Large Scale Marsh and Hydrologic Restoration (CS-87) Project within the Cameron Creole Watershed, on the east side of Calcasieu Lake was implemented to reduce stress from inundation through increased drainage structures and conveyance channel improvements that were designed through the use of an optimization model in combination with marsh creation to enhance the project. This same strategy should now be applied between Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes to address recent marsh collapse associated with persistent non-tidal saltwater inundation.
Louisiana Coastal Area Beneficial Use of Dredged Material Calcasieu Cameron Creole Project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana
Darrel Broussard – United States Army Corps of Engineers
The focus of this presentation is on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Louisiana Coastal Area Beneficial Use of Dredged Material (LCA BUDMAT) program, specifically highlighting the Calcasieu Cameron Creole project in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. LCA BUDMAT was authorized at $100 million, the LCA BUDMAT initiative showcases the strategic beneficial use of dredged material extracted during the maintenance of federal navigation channels in the region. A key feature of this program is the requirement for a non-federal cost-share sponsor, which involves a 75% federal to 25% non-federal funding split. This collaboration not only enhances project efficiency but also fosters community involvement in ecological restoration efforts.
The successful implementation of the LCA BUDMAT program will culminate in the creation of two marsh areas, each spanning 200 acres, utilizing dredged material from the Calcasieu Ship Channel. The logistics of the project involve pumping material from specific locations along the Calcasieu River Ship Channel, between river miles 5.0 and 17.0, and transferring it through a submerged pipeline across the Calcasieu Lake. When completed, the initiative aims to construct a total of 400 acres of marsh within the Cameron Creole Watershed in 2026 and 2028, in partnership with the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana.
Throughout this presentation, we will delve into the valuable lessons learned during the LCA BUDMAT process, exploring both the challenges and successes encountered in implementing such a significant coastal restoration project. Understanding these aspects is crucial not only for the ongoing efforts in Louisiana but also for informing future initiatives aimed at enhancing coastal resilience and environmental sustainability.
Lessons Learned from No Name Bayou Marsh Creation (CS-0078)
Travis Moore – CPRA
The No Name Bayou Marsh Restoration Project (CS-0078) is one of several CWPPRA projects in southwest Louisiana aimed at restoring vital marsh ecosystems within the Calcasieu-Sabine Basin. As the first in a series of projects designed to rejuvenate the interior marshes around the lake rim levee marshes, CS-78 plays a critical role in maintaining the ecological health of Cameron Parish. This project was planned and constructed in tandem with CS-87 and several supporting initiatives within the expansive 65,000-acre Cameron Creole Watershed (CCW). Together, these efforts significantly enhance vegetative productivity and help mitigate the alarming trend of wetland loss, which poses a threat to the rich biodiversity and natural resources of Louisiana’s coastal landscapes. In this session, we will provide a comprehensive overview of the planning, design, and construction strategies employed by the CS-78 Design Team. We will delve into the lessons learned throughout the project lifecycle, emphasizing how these insights can inform future restoration efforts across Louisiana’s wetlands. By sharing our experiences, we hope to foster collaboration and innovation among stakeholders committed to preserving Louisiana’s unique environmental heritage. Join us as we explore the challenges and successes of the No Name Bayou project and discuss its implications for sustainable marsh restoration in the southwest Louisiana region.
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 290
#15 Water Quality and Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring and Characterization
(Part I of II)
A quarter of Louisiana’s productive coastal landscape has been lost over the past century, and coastal Louisiana also faces the aggregate effects of excess nutrients introduced in the large Mississippi River/Atchafalaya Basin watershed which drains 41% of the continental United States. Nutrients stimulate phytoplankton growth in surface waters, which fuels the estuary food web. However, excess nutrients and water residence time can cause algal blooms, one of the primary stressors on coastal ecosystems. Loading rates of nitrogen and phosphorus can affect the species composition of the phytoplankton community and lead to harmful algal blooms.
In this session, water quality data from existing monitoring programs (Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and U.S. Geological Survey) are synthesized to characterize water quality conditions across Louisiana’s coastal landscape, with a focus on the Barataria Basin and the Chandeleur Islands region. Monitoring and characterization of HABs in Louisiana coastal waters is rapidly expanding with new tools and techniques that are highlighted in talks including new identification techniques and hyperspectral approaches.
Monitoring and characterization of water quality and HAB parameters and trends are vitally important for understanding how local baseline conditions fluctuate, and serve as inputs for planning and prediction of coastal projects.
Moderator: James Pahl – CPRA
Presenters:
• Amanda Marshall – Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
• Angelina Freeman – CPRA
• Kristi Trail – Pontchartrain Conservancy
• Guerry Holm – Jacobs
Long-term Nutrient Monitoring Trends and Coastal Louisiana
Amanda Marshall – Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) has been collecting nutrient data since 1978 through the ambient water quality monitoring network program and other projects. This data was summarized in 2015 and 2021 reports to provide an overview of long-term and seasonal trends in nitrogen and phosphorous in Louisiana’s watersheds. These reports support the initiatives found in the state Nutrient Reduction Management Strategy. The long-term nutrient trends specific to Louisiana’s coast are as follows: fourteen of the LDEQ twenty-one long-term monitoring stations in southern Louisiana are either located within or near and directly upstream from the coastal zone boundary, sites: 0001, 0003, 0026, 0030, 0033, 0039, 0051, 0053, 0093, 0105, 0106, 0116, 0138, and 0293. Overall, nitrogen trends (TKN, NOx) for the coastal regions are either slightly decreasing or not significant, as are phosphorous (TP) trends with the exception of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin, where total phosphorous concentrations have begun showing an increasing trend. Land use and seasonal variation have some effect on these trends.
Coastal Louisiana System-Wide Water Quality Characterization
Angelina Freeman – CPRA
Through the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s System Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP), water quality monitoring and nutrient sampling has been implemented coast-wide. The SWAMP water quality network leverages existing long-term water quality programs (Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, and the United States Geological Survey) and includes a total of 120 discrete monthly water quality stations across Louisiana’s coast, in addition to data collection platforms with continuous measurements. Water quality parameters include in situ measurements of turbidity, dissolved oxygen, water temperature, specific conductance and salinity as well as discrete water samples for laboratory analysis of nitrogen, phosphorus, silica, chlorophyll a, total suspended solids and volatile suspended solids. The coast-wide water quality component of SWAMP is obtaining repeated measurements used to characterize the variability in water quality constituent levels spatially, by estuarine basin, and seasonally. Relationships with bathymetry, abiotic changes, and the detection of changes that may result from a variety of sources, including large-scale restoration and protection projects, environmental disturbances, and other major drivers that impact the system, are also explored.
Hypoxia in Chandeleur and Breton Sounds: Understanding the onset, dissipation and transient nature of hypoxic conditions through long-term continuous monitoring
Kristi Trail – Pontchartrain Conservancy
Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico offshore of Louisiana has been studied for many years. Most research has tended to focus on deep water (>10m) south of the Mississippi River and Mississippi/Alabama coasts. Relatively little work has been done to understand hypoxic conditions in shallow coastal waters <10m depth between the Biloxi Marshes and Chandeleur Islands. Pontchartrain Conservancy (PC) has, through discrete measurements in Chandeleur and Breton Sounds, deduced that hypoxic conditions are seasonal, with onset of a ca. 1-2m thick hypoxic layer appearing in late spring/early summer and persisting through late summer/early autumn. In order to better understand hypoxia dynamics, PC deployed two buoys with sensors capable of recording bottom water quality measurements in 15-minute intervals. Recorded parameters include: dissolved oxygen, temperature, salinity, and specific conductivity. Deployment occurred over spring 2023 – fall 2024. Preliminary data suggests that hypoxia is more transient than previous discrete measurements suggest. Tidal amplitude and storms/wind events can cause enough mixing to temporarily dissipate hypoxic conditions for several days during the summer but hypoxic conditions typically return. This data fills a significant gap in our understanding of how hypoxia initiates, behaves and dissipates in nearshore coastal Louisiana waters where virtually no long-term monitoring exists.
Water Quality Trends in Barataria Basin
Guerry Holm – Jacobs
Barataria Basin is one of the most notable examples of how a delta estuary has changed after river crevassing was eliminated, uplands were developed, and tidal wetlands were channelized. This is an estuary where wetland restoration is increasingly important for protecting community flood defenses and sustaining habitat for fisheries and other living resources. The goal of this investigation is to assess Barataria Basin’s status in terms of water quality using data collected from 2015-2024 under CPRA’s System Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program, or SWAMP, compared to historic observations. Patterns in nutrients, sediments, and biological variables will be summarized from different locations in the basin, and potential sources of variation will be discussed. As nutrients are building blocks of the estuarine food web, CPRA’s SWAMP water quality data are supporting ongoing refinements of trophic/fisheries models, in addition to a better understanding of where and under what conditions algal blooms occur. The maturation and use of CPRA’s SWAMP data will improve our insights and management decisions for the estuary’s future.
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 288
#17 Modeling Along the Coast and Bird’s Foot Delta
This session will examine innovative approaches to modeling hydrodynamics, sediment transport, and flood interactions, offering insights into how these tools inform strategies for resilience, restoration, and sustainable management. The discussion will span systemic analyses of sediment and water partitioning in the lower Mississippi River, compound flood simulations that reveal the nonlinear interactions of riverine and coastal forces, and advanced 3D modeling of channel processes within the Bird’s Foot Delta. These models provide critical data for evaluating tradeoffs in management scenarios, guiding restoration efforts to improve sediment delivery, and optimizing crevasse management for habitat and hydrology improvements. This session will highlight how science-driven solutions can address the complexities of coastal system by combining state-of-the-art modeling techniques with practical applications.
Moderator: Ioannis Georgiou – The Water Institute
Presenters:
• Arpit Agarwal – Coast & Harbor Engineering, Inc.
• Thomas Everett – Coast & Harbor Engineering, Inc.
• Timothy Stephens – Dynamic Solutions, LLC
• Laura Manuel – Stantec
• Gordon Thomson – Baird
3D Channel Processes Modeling for Bird’s Foot Delta
Arpit Agarwal – Coast & Harbor Engineering, Inc.
The Bird’s Foot Delta (BFD) is located at the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico in southeast Louisiana, USA. It is a highly productive ecosystem that serves as a refuge for migratory birds, harbors fisheries, and acts as a defense mechanism against storm surges for the city of New Orleans. Over the past several decades, the wetlands of the eastern BFD have experienced severe degradation due to a combination of relative sea level rise and decreased hydrologic connection to the Mississippi River, which results in insufficient sediment deposition and increased salinity. The BFD restoration project proposes to restore the hydrology and improve the freshwater connection and sediment delivery to the Eastern Bird’s Foot Delta through dredging some combination of the distributaries south of Head of Passes.
Coast & Harbor Engineering (CHE) conducted the numerical modeling of hydraulics, sediment transport, and morphology across the BFD to help develop an understanding of the longevity and benefits of the implemented restoration solution. A 3-D fully coupled hydrodynamic and morphological model was developed for a section of the Lower Mississippi River using the commercial MIKE software. The model was calibrated and validated against field measurements for hydrodynamics and sediment transport. The calibrated model was used to analyze alternatives and evaluate various dredge templates’ ability to deliver flow and sediment to the starved receiving basins. A preferred alternative was selected based on performance and dredge quantities for further evaluation.
Numerical modeling in the Bird’s Foot Delta for Crevasse Management and Ecological Restoration
Thomas Everett – Coast & Harbor Engineering, Inc.
The Bird’s Foot Delta (BFD), a 521,000-acre delta located at the terminus of the Mississippi River at the Gulf of Mexico in southeast Louisiana, has experienced severe degradation over the past several decades. The BFD restoration project proposes dredging activities in the Lowermost Mississippi River to restore the freshwater and sediment delivery to the Eastern BFD. The sediment dredged from these passes will be used beneficially to create marsh, higher elevation wetlands for nesting marsh birds, and beach habitat for nesting colonial waterbirds, while the restored hydrologic connection will supply sediment for wetland growth.
A calibrated and validated 3-D coupled hydrodynamic and morphologic model was used to analyze alternatives to select the preferred dredge template. A long-term model simulation was conducted to quantify the land gained and longevity of the dredge template. Additionally, a crevasse management exercise was performed to find potential efficiencies in improving the hydraulics and sediment transport to the delta system by selective opening or closing of crevasses while maintaining the optimal functionality of the parent channel. Using the results from the alternatives simulations, an idealized crevasse model was created to develop a relationship between incoming sediment and flow at the upstream parent channel boundary to the flow and sediment exiting the crevasse while accounting for various channel flow geometric parameters. The relationship proves to be an efficient and novel tool for optimizing and future crevasse planning across the delta.
Simulating the Impact of Varying Flood Sources on Coastal Compound Flooding
Timothy Stephens – Dynamic Solutions, LLC
Recent compound flood events have caused devastating social and economic impacts and raised awareness of the need to account for multiple flood sources interacting in hazard prediction, preparedness, and mitigation planning. However, a fundamental understanding of the interaction of individual flood drivers is still needed. This presentation outlines a novel application investigating the interaction of riverine flooding along the Mississippi River and coastal storm surge during Hurricane Barry with a 2-dimensional, depth averaged hydrodynamic model, the Adaptive Hydraulics model (AdH). The spatial extents of the model fully encompass the area where compound flooding occurs, from the Gulf of Mexico to Tarbert Landing on the Mississippi River. This configuration with AdH overcomes model coupling challenges by directly simulating the complex physics of interacting flood sources with a fully-conservative form the 2D shallow water equations. Compound flooding and individual flood drivers were simulated for five flow scenarios to quantify their interaction with storm surge. Results show the impacts of compound flooding can extend more than 500km up the Mississippi River and reveal a nonlinear interaction between flood sources that is location specific due to unique channel characteristics. Local discharge decreased with the passage of storm surge due to a shift in net momentum flux. These techniques provide a valuable and transferable template for compound flooding evaluation, and the results provide explanatory insight to the fundamental interaction of multiple flood sources.
Systemic analysis of the tradeoffs associated with management strategies for natural and built Mississippi River outlets
Laura Manuel – Stantec
The lower Mississippi River’s continental flux of water, sediment, and nutrients passes through Louisiana in its last stretch to the Gulf of Mexico. A portion of the river detours to the gulf, pronounced in high flow events, through a series of natural and manmade diversions. Systemic understanding of the Mississippi River sediment and water partitioning among outlets or diversions is crucial to the sustained function of the Gulf of Mexico’s communities, habitats, and industries. This study discusses the development and application of a Delft3D FM 3 dimensional hydrodynamic, salinity, and temperature model of the Northern Gulf of Mexico. We used this model to analyze and quantify the tradeoffs among various management scenarios for freshwater allocation in the lower Mississippi River through existing and proposed infrastructure and natural openings. We varied the operational strategies of existing structures to investigate the changes in service and protection to the receiving basins. To maximize the benefits of the Mississippi River’s water, sediment, and nutrients, this study emphasizes the continued analysis of management scenarios as an important step in the preservation and protection of the Gulf of Mexico coast while sustaining the support of industry. We synthesized scoring metrics to facilitate communication of the efficacy of various management scenarios. The scoring metrics provide an evaluation framework covering physical, ecological and indirect socioeconomic criteria. This approach can be used for other complex natural systems to explore viable strategies.
Novel Approach for Modeling Long-term Louisiana Barrier Island Morphologic Change
Gordon Thomson – Baird
NOAA-NMFS engaged the Baird-Stantec JV to develop the Raccoon Island Restoration Project (RIRP). This presentation will discuss some of the novel approaches undertaken to model 20-year project performance. Raccoon Island is the westernmost of the Isles Dernières barrier island chain, located in Terrebonne Parish. It provides important habitat for fish and wildlife resources. The Deepwater Horizon, Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group authorized engineering and design of the RIRP in 2023. The Baird-Stantec JV was tasked with evaluating several alternatives that included beach/marsh fill, coastal structures, and multiple borrow areas. An integrated Delft3D FM waves (D-Waves) and XBeach model was developed to simulate waves, currents, sediment transport, and morphological changes. XBeach was chosen because of its ability to: model morphologic change; account for temporal variation in wave height; apply a hydrodynamic morphology acceleration factor allowing efficient modeling of a 20-year period; include wave diffraction; incorporate subsidence and sea level rise. However, the XBeach model is limited to a single input boundary condition and each run is limited to 5.8 days. Python scripts were developed to reorient the mesh numbering based on the dominant wave direction thus allowing waves to enter the model from any direction, and to automate initializing the model with the results of previous runs extending the run time to 20 years. XBeach does not develop wind driven waves so the D-Waves model was used to compute wave generation due to wind, wave propagation, non-linear wave-wave interaction, and dissipation.
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 285
#18 Louisiana Barrier Island Management, Research, and Stakeholder Perspectives
Barrier islands are the first line of defense against storms while also supporting coastal habitats. Preserving barrier islands and the ecosystem services they provide is challenging. The processes governing their evolution are complex and interconnected. Communities interact with the islands in various ways, benefiting from coastal protection as well as enjoying them for fishing, birdwatching, and other recreational activities. Storms, sea level rise, and insufficient sediment supply have eroded the Louisiana barriers. In response, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has managed a decades-long program of restoration. Initiatives such as Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring have collected data to understand barrier islands and support their management. In addition, entities such as the Louisiana Barrier Island Trustee Implementation Group, the RESTORE ACT Center of Excellence, and the U.S. Geological Survey have invested in data collection, numerical modeling, and analysis to enhance understanding, predictive capacity, and science-based evaluation of barrier island evolution. In this session, we will review and discuss restoration, data analysis, and numerical modeling of Louisiana barrier islands from an interdisciplinary perspective. We will begin by highlighting the benefits of coordinated research, restoration, and management. Managers, engineers, and physical and social scientists will then highlight ongoing work along Louisiana’s barrier islands and headlands, concluding with Q&A and discussion.
Moderator: Maricel Beltran Burgos – The Water Institute
Presenters:
• Matthew Vincent – CPRA
• Soupy Dalyander – The Water Institute
• Patrick Kane – The Water Institute
• Michael Miner – The Water Institute
• Travis Swanson – The Water Institute
• April Newman– CPRA
• Scott Hemmerling – The Water Institute
• Meg Palmsten – USGS
Organizer: Soupy Dalyander – The Water Institute
Developing the Barrier Island System Management (BISM) Program
Matthew Vincent – CPRA
Since the early to mid-1990’s, the State of Louisiana has recognized the important role that barrier islands play in protecting the coast and the unique ecosystem benefits they provide for the state. From the 1994 Raccoon Island repair (TE-0106) project to the modern restoration efforts currently ongoing, the State of Louisiana has spent well over 1 billion dollars in restoring the states valuable and vulnerable barrier islands. In a sediment starved system, and with limited funding, an all hands approach to planning, research, and monitoring of Louisiana’s barrier islands is required for effective management.
The State of Louisiana, through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) recognizes this need for effective management and over the past several years has evolved in its approach to restoring the state’s barrier islands. Chief among these advances in barrier island management has been the focus on a system-based approach for restoration as opposed to a project-by-project based approach. This talk will focus on the evolution of barrier island management by the State of Louisiana, the tools that have been developed to aid in this management, and the subsequent development of the current Barrier Island System Management (BISM) program.
Back to the Sandbox: Reduced complexity modeling in support of Louisiana’s Barrier Island System Management program
Soupy Dalyander – The Water Institute
Storms, rising seas, and other factors drive erosion along Louisiana’s barrier islands and headlands, threatening provision of valuable ecosystem services such as storm protection. The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority initiated the Barrier Island System Management (BISM) program to replace site-by-site management of these features, enabling more efficient use of available sediment to meet increasing demands for restoration. Here, we present a coastal simulation framework that can project outcomes for the barrier island with and without different potential restoration scenarios. The framework consists of a collection of reduced complexity models of: i) barrier islands, ii) shoals and inlets, iii) coastal headlands and iv) sediment storage in borrow pits, bays, and offshore areas. During each step forward in time, edges of a directed graph are used to inform sediment exchange between connected reduced complexity models. These connections represent natural sediment pathways (e.g., longshore transport) and restoration efforts (e.g., beach nourishment from a dredged borrow pit). While some model parameters are potentially knowable, many of them comprise “deep uncertainties” that represent complex unsimulatable processes or require information that decision makers do not have access to (e.g., future sea-level rise and littoral sediment transport). The model is lightweight and can support thousands of simulations of potential futures, enabling it to be used in conjunction with a Robust Decision Making (RDM) toolkit (featured in another presentation in the session) to identify effective restoration strategies that robust across these uncertainties.
Developing Robust Restoration Strategies: A Many-Objective Robust Decision-Making Approach to Louisiana Barrier Island System Management
Patrick Kane – The Water Institute
Barrier island chains are vital for protecting the Louisiana coastline from tropical storms and providing habitats for various species. While these islands have some capacity to repair storm damage naturally, the effects of sea level rise and increasing storm intensity due to climate change have made it necessary to manage regular sediment additions to prevent island loss. The challenge lies in determining the best sources for this sediment and deciding which islands need to be prioritized for restoration and when.
Due to the complexity of the physical dynamics of barrier islands, we developed a reduced complexity model (featured in another presentation in the session) of the Louisiana barrier island system that incorporates the interconnections between islands and the effects of sea level rise. The framework draws on data from newly developed statewide databases, all at a level of resolution suitable for decision making on the order of years to decades.
We use this model to simulate multiple metrics, such as coastal protection, habitat value, and cost, to investigate how considering uncertainties can affect management decisions. In particular, we employ Many-objective Robust Decision-Making methods to inform decisions on developing restoration schedules that optimize the timing and location of interventions across the system and spanning a multi-decade planning horizon, as well as selecting appropriate sediment sources. Our analysis facilitates finding robust strategies that perform well across the management objectives and scenarios of the future.
Beneficial Use of Sand Dredged for Mississippi River Ship Channel Maintenance to Support Louisiana’s Barrier Island System Management Program
Michael Miner – The Water Institute
Sand availability, quality, and transport distance greatly influence restoration project costs and can limit project constructability, especially for barrier islands. The Lowermost Mississippi River (LMR) and US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) dredging for navigation channel maintenance provide for a renewable sand resource naturally delivered to the coast in predictable quantities that meet the annual needs of Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s Barrier Island System Management (BISM) Program. Under the LMR Management Program, a regional sediment management (RSM) strategy was developed that leverages USACE maintenance dredging to provide sand to BISM projects in a way that is mutually beneficial to navigation and coastal restoration. Studies on sediment transport and dredging below Venice, Louisiana, found that sand is not flushed through this reach due to reduced stream power, resulting in channel shoaling and triggering one of the nation’s largest dredging operations (nearly 20 million yds3 annually). The RSM strategy was developed in coordination with stakeholders from USACE, CPRA, LDWF, LDNR, USFWS, navigation interests, etc. An alternatives analysis that considers various sand storage and transport options was conducted that informed subsequent 1st-order cost estimates comparing traditional offshore sand resources with sand produced during MS River maintenance dredging. Results demonstrated that with strategic coordination, the costs are similar. Moreover, using LMR sand has increased benefits including: a renewable sand resource with minimal environmental impacts relative to excavating undisturbed seafloor habitat, a solution to limited dredged material storage capacity, and reduced sedimentation in delta distributaries resulting in increased freshwater flow to wetlands.
Indicators of Barrier Island Resilience and Resistance in Louisiana
Soupy Dalyander – The Water Institute
Found along the estuarine-marine interface, barrier islands are shaped by drivers (e.g., climate change), pressures (e.g., relative sea-level rise), and stressors (e.g., overwash). These systems provide ecosystem services including storm surge and wave attenuation, erosion protection to inland marshes, habitat for fish and wildlife, and recreation. Natural resource managers need actionable information on how barrier island resilience and resistance are changing over time. This information can help managers understand how an island’s current state relates to past conditions and inform where to focus restoration. Funded by the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Water Institute are collaborating on a study to develop indicators of resilience and resistance for barrier islands in Louisiana. Here, resilience captures island persistence on yearly to decadal time scales, and resistance captures persistence on event time scales of days to weeks. We have developed resilience indicators based on subaerial land and vegetation coverage from satellite imagery that capture the state of islands in the context of their long-term trajectories. Similarly, we have developed a resistance indicator based on island configuration (volume and area) that can be benchmarked to water level recurrence as a proxy evaluating island resistance to short-term events. Our approach utilizes readily available land cover products and elevation datasets to develop screening-level metrics related to barrier island resilience and resistance. Beyond these screening-level metrics, our study will highlight detailed, higher resolution datasets and analyses that can provide robust information for specific time periods or management applications (e.g., wildlife management).
Elevating Understanding of Barrier Island Evolution through Hypsometry
Travis Swanson – The Water Institute
The morphological state and evolution of barrier islands are challenging to measure. To simplify analysis, barrier morphology is often quantified in the limiting view of elevation samples measured along one dimensional transects. However, repeated sampling by a static set of transects may fail to capture the dynamic changes of barrier elements such as dunes, washover fans, and inlets. Therefore, transect-based analyses may obscure observation and interpretation of dynamic equilibrium states. To address these limitations, we explore the use of hypsometry, or analysis of the distribution of elevations, as a robust method for quantifying barrier island morphology and morphological changes. Our study applies hypsometric analysis to: i) assess before and after barrier island state due to a storm event and a restoration event, ii) analyze long-term (decadal) barrier island evolution, and iii) evaluate regional variation through an ensemble comparison of hypsometric curves of persistently subaerial barrier islands across the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The results demonstrate the potential of hypsometry as a valuable tool for capturing the complexity of barrier island states and changes, offering a new framework for future morphodynamic modeling of these critical coastal features.
When Your Project is a Disaster, the Key to Restoration is Data
April Newman – CPRA
Current plans to repair West Belle Headland (WBH) await final approval from FEMA in what may be the first instance of a Louisiana barrier island receiving funding from a federally declared disaster. On October 28, 2020, Hurricane Zeta made landfall approximately 25 miles west of the WBH project area as a Category 3 storm. At that time, construction of the WBH portion of the Terrebonne Basin Barrier Island and Beach Nourishment (TE-0143) project was approximately 80% complete. Construction progress surveys coupled with post-storm surveys allowed for the calculation of sand volume lost as a direct result of the storm. This has proved to be crucial for a viable FEMA claim for damages to Louisiana’s barrier islands, which often take the first impact from incoming tropical storms. For a project that is fully State-funded and has a demonstrated history of maintenance, regular surveying and post-storm assessments are the key to unlocking federal dollars for storm recovery.
Using Local Knowledge to Assess the Cumulative Effects of Coastal Change on Louisiana’s Barrier Islands
Scott Hemmerling – The Water Institute
Sea level rise, storms, and other factors are driving significant erosion and evolution of coastal shorelines and barrier islands throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico, resulting in cascading impacts to habitat, species, and communities. Despite advances in technological tools, predictive modeling, and monitoring instrumentation, several uncertainties and gaps in understanding and forecasting the impacts of changing environmental conditions on barrier islands currently exist. To address these gaps and gain a better understanding of the cascading impacts of coastal change on ecosystems and communities, as well as local perspectives on factors affecting coastal restoration efforts, this research brought together scientists, residents, and local stakeholders to identify and map areas of concern on two Louisiana barrier islands: Breton Island and Grand Isle. The people who live and work in coastal communities are repositories of valuable local knowledge on environmental change and the impacts of such change on ecosystems and the people that rely on them for their livelihoods and wellbeing. To collect local and map this local knowledge, key stakeholders, including residents, resource users, land managers, and wildlife biologists, joined researchers on walking, driving, and boat tours of the islands, during which they conducted spatial video geonarratives—environmentally cued interviews that pair high-definition video with precise GPS coordinates. These data will complement coastal change hazard forecasts, providing critical information for decision-makers to assess and mitigate the risks storms pose to coastal communities and to enhance the management of barrier island ecosystems.
Developing real-time forecasts of coastal change for Louisiana Barrier Islands
Meg Palmsten – USGS
Barrier islands in the Northern Gulf of Mexico experience coastal change, especially during tropical cyclone events. Forecasting the potential for coastal change in real-time can provide barrier island communities and managers with essential information for decision-making. The Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast, a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, provides hourly coastal change information with a 6-day forecast horizon along 4,700 km of Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastline, but does not currently include barrier islands along Louisiana (LA). To develop and test forecasts of coastal change for Louisiana (LA) barrier islands, the Breton Island Total water level Experiment (BITE) aims to quantify coastal change with photographic, meteorological, and water level observations.
This field campaign deployed 4 camera systems, 10 pressure transducers, and a weather station on Breton Island, LA in May 2024 for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Trail cameras were mounted on 1.8-meter-tall poles at 4 locations across the island with the goal of observing both the ocean and sound side island dynamics. To quantify water levels during storm events, pressure transducers were deployed on 2 cross-shore transects from ocean to sound near the middle and southwest of the island. To accompany the field observations, numerical modeling of storm surge, waves, and runup will be completed using observational data as validation. Numerical modeling along with in-situ observations will help to provide a more complete picture of coastal change on a transect, island, and regional scale, thereby improving our understanding of barrier island dynamics during storm events and our ability to forecast coastal change.
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 284
#19 We’re Stronger Together: Weaving Perspectives, Science, TEK, Restoration, and Modeling for a Better Future
Collaboration across disciplines, communities, and knowledge systems strengthens coastal resilience and restoration. This session highlights the long-term partnership between Louisiana Sea Grant and the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT), demonstrating how co-production frameworks integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and scientific research to support adaptation in the face of marsh loss, saltwater intrusion, and coastal erosion. The session will explore Indigenous-led resilience strategies, including capacity-sharing initiatives, wetland restoration, and hurricane-resistant infrastructure that blend cultural values with technical expertise. The session will also examine how nature-based solutions like living shorelines provide both physical protection and cultural preservation and overcoming communication and collaboration challenges in watershed management to develop a shared approach to climate adaptation and flood mitigation.
Moderator: TBD
Presenters:
• Alyssa Outhwaite – Louisiana Sea Grant
•Devon Parfait – Environmental Defense Fund, The Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw
• Matthew Bethel – Louisiana Sea Grant
• Danica Adams – Arcadis
Evolution of Co-Production: More Than a Decade of Collaborative Efforts Between Louisiana Sea Grant and the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe in Southern Louisiana
Alyssa Outhwaite – Louisiana Sea Grant
The Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT) of southern Louisiana has roots in one of the oldest inhabited communities in the United States. Positioned along Bayou Pointe-au-Chien, the PACIT community accesses a variety of natural resources essential to their way of life. However, their community is exposed to coastal hazards leading to marsh fragmentation, saltwater intrusion, and coastal erosion. Despite these challenges, the PACIT is committed to adapting in place, drawing on cultural roots and a shared place-based identity. For more than fifteen years, researchers at Louisiana (LA) Sea Grant have partnered with the PACIT to co-produce adaptation research supporting this commitment. Co-production is a framework for collaboration between researchers, practitioners, and communities to develop solutions to complex socio-ecological issues. This framework is used to engage Indigenous communities and researchers in a process of applying traditional ecological knowledge to climate adaptation issues. Studies have reported on these co-produced efforts with lessons learned to guide future work. However, there is an increasing recognition that effective and equitable co-production remains challenging. Further still, few long-term relationships between local communities and institutions (e.g., academic, government, industry) have been reported on. In this study, we examined more than a decade of co-production efforts between LA Sea Grant and the PACIT. We discuss how the partnership has evolved and give suggestions for others seeking to sustain long-term partnerships in co-production.
Indigenous-Led Systems Change: Capacity Sharing for Community Resilience
Devon Parfait – Environmental Defense Fund, The Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw
As an Indigenous leader and Science Coordinator with the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, I focus on advancing systems-level change through capacity-sharing partnerships that prioritize shared responsibility and community resilience. My work bridges Indigenous knowledge with modern science to build sustainable, adaptive systems for today’s challenges. A key project involves a Community/Hurricane Resilience Center in collaboration with Purdue University (Engineers Without Borders). This hurricane-resistant hub will serve both disaster relief, community organizing, and cultural preservation, blending traditional values with technical expertise. We also collaborate on initiatives like the Canal Back-Filling Project with First People’s Conservation Council of Louisiana and the Lowlander Center, aimed at restoring wetlands, reducing flood risks, and honoring sacred sites. Further, The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) supports engaging cross-generational leaders and community members in coastal restoration efforts, reflecting a bottom-up approach that empowers our communities and builds capacity for long-term resilience. Finally, our advocacy for federal recognition, bolstered by land loss mapping and genealogical research, strengthens our pursuit of sovereignty and resources to sustain these efforts. These partnerships (and more!) demonstrate how Indigenous leadership fosters adaptive frameworks for resilience, emphasizing a community-driven, capacity-sharing approach based on mutual support and trust for a sustainable future.
A Living Shoreline Design Approach: Supporting the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe’s Climate Adaptation Efforts
Matthew Bethel – Louisiana Sea Grant
The Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe (PACIT), located in Southeastern Louisiana, thrives on diverse ecological and cultural resources, such as birds, plants, animals, fish, and sacred sites. Historically, Tribe members were fishers, hunters, and farmers. While many Tribe members continue to fish as a livelihood, climate-related hazards threaten their continued existence in the region and ability to thrive. Adaptation measures taken by Tribe members have not been sufficient to withstand increased tropical storm impacts because of the loss of much of the surrounding lands to open water, exposing the community to greater storm surge and more frequent flooding. Following Hurricane Ida’s devastating impacts in August 2021, the Tribe is developing a comprehensive community-based strategy to prepare for future storms. Living shorelines are a nature-based solution that can support the PACIT in achieving critical aspects of its vision to sustainably rebuild and adapt to increasingly severe climate-related hazards.We present an opportunity to design a network of coordinated living shoreline structures utilizing a version of a Living Shorelines Site Suitability Model made relevant to the local area through co-production research. This concept is a key strategy for protecting the community from future storm impacts and flooding that honors the Tribe’s cultural heritage and priorities. We expect this process will inform the design of similar measures in other coastal communities most at risk.
From the Tower of Babel to a Watershed Management Lingua-Franca
Danica Adams – Arcadis
How can we effectively unite watershed modelers, civil engineers, planners, policymakers, environmentalists, community members, emergency responders, and other stakeholders to foster a common understanding of watershed management? This session features leaders from state agencies and coastal watersheds who will share their experiences and insights, communication challenges and wins, and discuss the occasionally painful process of understanding the nuances of professional jargon from planners, engineers, elected officials, hydrologic and hydraulic modelers, floodplain administrators, and more stakeholders. This will be complemented by an introduction and contextual framing from early adopters of the collaborative watershed management approach. Participants will receive Bingo cards featuring terminology that has helped establish shared vocabulary within the Louisiana Watershed Initiative (LWI) process. Prizes will be awarded to the winners. Join us for a dynamic discussion focused on collaboration and effective communication in watershed management.
Tuesday, May 20 | 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. | Room 283
#20 Cultural Protection and Restoration Actions: The Other CPRA
As the area of the world facing most rapid land loss estimable, coastal Louisiana faces crises not only in terms of physical casualty. As land disappears, historical populations disperse, carrying essential cultural practice and memory away from socially cohesive settlements and risking dissolution and loss. This panel of cultural preservationists from communities of the lower Lafourche-Terrebonne Basin presents a diversity of historical and modern activities that seek to prevent such loss. “Artefacts of Extraction” describes collective ecological and crafted items that represent an evolution of historical occupations and lifeways along lower Bayou Lafourche. “Rougarou Fest” and “Cajun Music Preservation” describe how public entertainment events help to preserve and transfer cultural traditions across generations. “Nanih Bvlbancha” and the “Chauvin Sculpture Garden” describe how art can be integrated into the geographic landscape reminding us why there is an urgent need to protect coastal art where it was originally built. ”Louisiana French” compares several coastal dialects and offers a strategy for how we can preserve language in parallel to our restoration of coastal habitats. Together, these projects describe efforts at local cultural protection and restoration and demonstrate that the “other” CPRA remains critical in our ongoing efforts.
Moderator: Gary LaFleur – Nicholls State University
Presenters:
• John Doucet – Nicholls State University
• Jonathan Foret – South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center
• Quenton Fontenot – Nicholls State University
• Monique Verdin – Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange, Bvlbanch Liberation Radio
• Gary LaFleur – Nicholls State University
• Robin White – Nicholls State University
Artefacts of Extraction
John Doucet – Nicholls State University
The 3000-year-long deposition of Lafourche delta imbued coastal lands with an abundance of natural resources, including timber, wildlife, rich organic farmland, waterways, a diversity of aquatic habitats, and oil and gas deposits. Over the past 250 years, these resources provided villagers a diversity of subsistence opportunities as well as both seasonal and continuous occupations. In one particular village, the predominant occupation changed from farming, to trawling, to oil and gas exploration, to exploration service over the course of less than four decades at the beginning of the 20th Century. Today, not only do land, civic, and industrial structures bear artefactual evidence of these extractive occupations, but individual and institutional art also preserve this history. From the stained-glass windows of local churches, to funerary etchings, to metonyms, to craftwork models and art made of found objects, residents of the lower Lafourche deltaic lands were busy preserving information about their history and culture. Many of these artefacts were created circumstantially as a consequence of lifeways prior to broad knowledge of coastal land loss, subsidence, and climatic impacts. The result of these activities is a significant contribution to cultural preservation in an area facing the most drastic land loss in the world. It is not surprising that much of the history and culture of the region is the result of hurricanes and memory of them. As much so, it is ironic that part of the citizenry’s effort at their own cultural preservation in the form of grass-roots historical collections were destroyed by Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Rougarou Fest: Celebrating the Rich Folklore of the Bayous of Southeast Louisiana
Jonathan Foret – South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center
Fairs and Festivals play an integral role in preserving and transferring cultural traditions to future generations. The Rougarou Fest in Houma, La., is strategically offering programs and attractions to celebrate cultural traditions while making them relevant to future tradition bearers. In particular, the Folklife Village is a free area at the Rougarou Fest where visitors can engage with various aspects of culture, humanities, and folklore. It features demonstrations, workshops, performances, and exhibits showcasing traditional crafts, music, dance, storytelling, and other traditions unique to South Louisiana. Cultural practices are deeply intertwined with a community’s identity. Preserving these practices helps communities maintain a sense of who they are, fostering a connection to their heritage and ancestors. By preserving cultural practices, communities ensure the transmission of traditions, values, language, and history from one generation to the next. This is vital for maintaining identity, transmitting heritage, enriching cultural diversity, and demonstrating resilience and adaptation in the face of change.
Sustaining Traditional Cajun Music in the Bayou Region
Quenton Fontenot – Nicholls State University
The Cajun Music Preservation Society was formed in 2014 with a vision and mission to promote and enhance traditional Cajun music in the Bayou Region. We achieve this vision and mission by hosting open Cajun Jams twice a month, providing live Cajun music at a variety of events, producing the Swamp Stomp Music Series, and supporting Cajun fiddle lessons. Since we were established, we have produced a Cajun music performance at over 225 events, not including our regular Cajun Jams, and facilitated payment of over $100,000 to Cajun musicians. We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and run by volunteers only. We understand that it is just as important to preserve our culture as it is to preserve our physical coast. This presentation will review our history and the impact we have has on sustaining traditional Cajun music in the Bayou Region.
Nanih Bvlbancha: An Intertribal Mound Calling for Protection of Coastal Communities
Monique Verdin – Land Memory Bank & Seed Exchange, Bvlbanch Liberation Radio
Nanih Bvlbancha is a profound project led and created by an intertribal collective of Louisiana Indigenous artists and creative practitioners. This permanent work was unveiled April 6, 2024, and is now open to the public located at Lafitte Greenway (1900 Lafitte Ave). The project is meant to call attention to the lands and other mounds we are losing in South Louisiana, and the urgent need to protect coastal and tribal communities, marking the four directions, calling all into a balanced way of being, recognizing that the health of our world, and ourselves, depends on that balance. Soils incorporated into the mound were collected from along the Mississippi watershed as well as other sites in North America, and other continents. The artists envision Nanih Bvlbancha as a neutral ground where all Ancestors and their stories will be honored. The artists also seek to show gratitude for the powerful life force that is the Mississippi River, as she carries silt from other places to form the precious land of Bvlbancha, the nutrient rich soil that grows food, and the water that nourishes the many organisms of Bvlbancha. The artists intend for the mound to anchor all in relationship, reciprocity, respect for all beings, and inspire opportunities to gather as a culturally diverse community, educate in traditional ways that involve active participation, care and tend our native plants in more sustainable ways, and play the ancient ball games of indigenous peoples.
Chauvin Sculpture Garden
Gary LaFleur – Nicholls State University
Description to come.
State of Affairs of Louisiana French and Comparable Language Situations
Robin White – Nicholls State University
This presentation examines the current status of Louisiana French—particularly the French spoken in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes—and the endangered Creole language Kouri-Vini. Like many minority languages globally, Louisiana French has undergone significant decline over the past century. However, models of successful language maintenance and revitalization elsewhere offer valuable lessons. The presenter will also consider recent data gathered through the Bayou Culture Collaborative French Working Group to assess ongoing community-based efforts.
We explore the role of geographic isolation in preserving linguistic heritage, comparing Louisiana’s coastal communities to other regions where minority languages persist, such as the Gaeltacht in Ireland, the Basque Country, Welsh-speaking Gwynedd, and Clare, Nova Scotia. These coastal areas have often functioned as refuges for linguistic continuity. Similarly, Quebeckers, whose language has been partially protected by cultural and geographic insulation, use the term “Louisianisation” to describe the erosion of French that they aim to prevent.
Despite similar geographic features, Louisiana’s coastal isolation has not sufficed to halt language decline. Still, unlike more extreme cases of language loss, Louisiana retains living French-speaking populations and French, globally, is not in decline. The presentation concludes by evaluating actionable strategies for revitalization before further erosion renders recovery unattainable.