Louisiana’s Master Plan for coastal restoration, hurricane protection and flood control has a massive $50 billion budget that will be spread out over the next 50 years or so. Of that total, approximately $1.7 billion will be dedicated to barrier island restoration, headland enhancements and related work, although there are also other projects in the plan that will offer indirect benefits. What follows are excerpts from projects included the Master Plan that could either directly or indirectly benefit the Bayou State’s remaining barrier islands and headlands in the coming decades.
—Restoration of the Isles Dernieres barrier islands to provide dune, beach and back barrier marsh habitat and to provide storm surge and wave attenuation in the Terrebonne Basin: $343 million
—Restoration of the Timbalier Barrier Islands to provide dune, beach, and back barrier marsh habitat and to provide storm surge and wave attenuation in the Terrebonne Basin: $524 million
—Mermentau Basin hydrologic restoration in the area south of White Lake, including onstruction of a water control structure south to introduce freshwater to wetlands south of Highway LA 82 near Pecan Island: $7 million
—Shoreline protection through rock breakwaters of approximately 90,000 feet of Gulf shoreline from Freshwater Bayou to Southwest Pass near Marsh Island to preserve shoreline integrity and reduce wetland degradation from wave erosion: $96 million
—Shoreline protection through rock breakwaters of approximately 37,000 feet of shoreline along Southwest Pass immediately west of Marsh Island to preserve shoreline integrity and reduce wetland degradation from wave erosion: $40 million
—Creation of approximately 7,340 acres of marsh between Pecan Island and the west bank of the Freshwater Bayou Canal to create new wetland habitat, restore degraded marsh and reduce wave erosion: $1.18 million
—Restoration of Barataria Bay’s barrier islands between Barataria Pass and Sandy Point to provide dune and back barrier marsh habitat and to provide storm surge and wave attenuation for the Barataria Basin: $535 million
—Restoration of Barataria Bay barrier islands between Belle Pass and Caminada Pass to provide dune, beach and back barrier marsh habitat and to provide storm surge and wave attenuation for the Barataria Basin: $281 million
