Reasons to Restore:
- Natural erosion
- Subsidence
- Construction of navigation canals along the northeast shoreline of a Marsh Island.
- Deterioration of the north rim of Lake Sand and the interior marshes.
Restoration Strategy:
- Stabilizes the northeastern shoreline of Marsh Island.
- Stabilizing the northern shoreline of Lake Sand.
- Help restore the historic hydrology.
- Construction of 7 closures for oil and gas canals at the northeast end of Marsh Island.
- Protect the northeast shoreline with rock including the isolation of Lake Sand from Vermilion Bay.
[2]
Location:
This project is located in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, on the eastern portion of the Russell Sage Foundation Marsh Island State Wildlife Refuge and surrounding Lake Sand.
Project Effectiveness [1]:
- Effective at reducing water level variability within the northern portion of the project area
- Water level variability did not increase in the project area as is did in R1 post-construction
- Reducing erosion rates at the northeast shoreline was partially met
- Reduced erosion in areas of applied rock dikes versus unprotected areas.
- The steel sheet pile, rock rip-rap wingwall, and stone bank paving installed at each end of closure No. 5 proved to be successful in preventing erosion during a storm event.
Previous Progress [2]:
- The monitoring plan was finalized in January 2000 following with further data collection.
- Pre-construction and post-construction aerial photography were in the year 2000, and 2009 with future imagery analyses upcoming.
- Water level, submerged aquatic vegetation and shoreline position and movement data were also collected to evaluate project effectiveness.
Progress to Date [1]:
- Construction was completed in December 2001.
- This is one of the three projects nearing the end of their 20 year lives.
- The Task Force will vote on the Technical Committee’s recommendation on the path forward for the following projects [1]:
This project is on Priority Project List (PPL) 6.
Project Sponsors Include:
Source:
[1] Mouledous, M. and Broussard, D. 2014. 2014 Operations, Maintenance, and Monitoring Report for Marsh Island Hydrologic Restoration. Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA). Available:https://lacoast.gov/ocmc/MailContent.aspx?ID=10092 [May 22,2018].
[2] Marsh Island Hydrologic Restoration (TV-14) Land-Water Classification. 2009. Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA). Available: https://www.lacoast.gov/products/sab_net_pub_products/map/original/2011-02-0009.pdf [May 22, 2018].
CWPPRA 