VIDEO: 10 years after Hurricane Katrina, coastal restoration work still to be done

Learn why coastal restoration is so important to protecting Louisiana coast

Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina barreled into the Louisiana coast. The monster storm cut through the marshes of Southeast Louisiana, tearing out huge swathes of the already ailing wetlands and pushing water up the long-pilleried Mississippi River Gulf Outlet to flood New Orleans and Chalemette.

And, while the MRGO finally has been sealed off, there remains a lot of work to shore up the coast and offer protection for the marshes and communities, the National Wildlife Federation recently pointed out in a Youtube video.

“Ten years after the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina, major achievements have been made,” the narrator of the vid said. “However, there is still great need to improve the resilience of New Orleans and its coastal neighbors.”

Work to rebuild marshlands not only protects the fisheries we all love, it’s the key to preventing future disasters.

“Levees along are not enough to protect our communities,” the narrator said. “Every hour, Louisiana continues to lose one football field of wetlands critical to natural storm defenses.”

The closure of MRGO in 2007 was a major first step, sealing off a channel that contributed to massive erosion of surrounding wetlands and allowed saltwater to flow into historically freshwater and brackish areas.

“Restoration of wetlands due to the MRGO is not so much about righting the past wrong of the MRGO, although that is certainly warranted,” said John Lopez of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation. “It’s about rebuilding a sustainable wetlands and this wetlands buffer that acts as one of the multiple lines of defense to protect cities like New Orleans.”

John Taylor, who has spent his life in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, said he remembers when vibrant cypress swamps — now just a memory — bordered that section of the city and absorbed storm surges.

“They need to know that wetlands in bad shape is a problem to us,” Taylor said. “If they are put back in the shape nature intended them to be, they would do the job (nature) intended it to do — it’s to protect us against surges of water and wind.

“If you don’t fix it, the same thing’s going to happen. If the wetlands are not fixed, they’re not restored, (if) the same category storm hit in same place, the same thing’s going to happen.”

Watch the video to learn how you can help ensure the wetlands are restored to build a protective buffer for coastal communities — and protect the incredible fishing for which Louisiana is world famous.

About Andy Crawford 863 Articles
Andy Crawford has spent nearly his entire career writing about and photographing Louisiana’s hunting and fishing community. While he has written for national publications, even spending four years as a senior writer for B.A.S.S., Crawford never strayed far from the pages of Louisiana Sportsman. Learn more about his work at www.AndyCrawford.Photography.