Approximately 14,390 acres (32%) of the Cameron-Creole
Watershed Project (CCWP) marshes were lost to open water
from 1932 to 1990 at an average loss rate of 248 acres/year
(0.55 percent/year) due to subsidence and saltwater intrusion
from the Calcasieu Ship Channel. The
CCWP was implemented by the NRCS in 1989 to reduce
saltwater intrusion and stimulate restoration through
revegetation. Hurricanes Rita and Ike in 2005 and 2008
breached the watershed levee scouring the marsh and
allowing higher Calcasieu Lake salinities to enter the
watershed causing more land loss. The Calcasieu-Sabine
Basin lost 28 square miles (17,920 acres) (4.4%) as a result
of Hurricane Rita (Barras et al. 2006). Land loss is estimated
to be 1.33 percent/year based on USGS data from 1985 to
2009 within the extended project boundary.
Project goals include restoring and nourishing hurricane-scoured
marsh in the Cameron Prairie National Wildlife
Refuge and adjacent brackish marshes of the Calcasieu Lake
estuary. Approximately 3 million cubic yards of material
would be dredged from a borrow site proposed in Calcasieu
Lake and placed into two marsh creation areas north of
Grand Bayou to restore 609 acres and nourish approximately
7 acres of brackish marsh. The borrow site would be
designed to avoid and minimize impacts to oysters and other
sensitive aquatic habitat. Tidal creeks would be constructed
prior to placement of dredge material and retention levees
would be gapped to support estuarine fisheries access and
to achieve a functional marsh. The project would result in
approximately 534 net acres of brackish marsh over the 20-
year project life.
This project is located in Region 4, Calcasieu-Sabine Basin,
Cameron Parish, 6 miles northeast from Cameron, LA, on
the Cameron Prairie NWR and Miami Corporation property
north of Grand Bayou.
This project is on Project Priority List (PPL) 20.
The Cameron-Creole Watershed Grand Bayou Marsh Creation sponsors include:
- Federal sponsor: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
- Local sponsor: Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority
Keep up with this project and other CWPPRA projects on the project page.
CWPPRA 