We are so excited for the year ahead, and oh boy is 2022 is shaping up to be one for the books. This year will bring us some major milestones for restoration projects that will ultimately change the future of our coast and help sustain it for generations. With those milestones come important opportunities to advocate for the coast and coastal communities. We are looking forward to working with stakeholders and restoration supporters, like yourself, to move the ball on many game-changing restoration projects this year.

To kick us off, the State has just released their largest Coastal Annual Plan ever, outlining more than a billion dollars of spending over a one-year period for protection and restoration projects across the coast. With many communities still rebuilding from the devastating hurricanes of the last two years, this investment is more important and urgent than ever to rebuild wetlands and protect vulnerable communities. I encourage you to join the virtual public meeting tonight at 6 PM to learn more.
 

More about the Annual Plan

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is required to produce a Coastal Annual Plan that lists all the restoration projects that are in the process of planning, design and construction, including project timelines and budgets. The Fiscal Year 2023 (July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023) Annual Plan provides an update on the state’s efforts to protect and restore its coast and describes the short-term and long-term restoration work that communities can expect to see as the state progresses toward a sustainable coast.

This year’s nearly $1.3 billion commitment to coastal protection and restoration is a testament to the importance of this work and demonstrates the level of urgency and significant action needed to take on our state’s land loss crisis. Over the next 3 years, approximately $3 billion is projected to be spent on coastal protection and restoration projects with over 80% for project construction. These funds will be spent on critical, priority restoration projects that have widespread support and are scientifically sound. Supporters like you have helped advocate for many of these projects over the years. Thank you.

According to recent polling, Louisianans hold a nearly universal belief that the state should prioritize confronting its coastal land loss crisis with urgency. An overwhelming 97% of voters along Louisiana’s coast agree that state officials should work to maintain as much of the coast as possible and 70% of voters believe stronger hurricanes and increased coastal flooding are already having an impact on themselves and their families.

Check out our Community Guide to Coastal Restoration to learn more about the Annual Plan, and other coastal restoration funding sources and decision-makers. 

Your voice matters! Consider attending tonight’s meeting and support the Annual Plan.

Thu, Jan 27, 2022 – 6:00 pm
Virtual Meeting Link
Password: Coastal944
or Dial 216 706 7075, Conference Code: 964105

More information about the meetings can be found here. 

Written comments can be submitted by email to [email protected] or by snail mail to CPRA 2023 Annual Plan, 150 Terrace Ave, Baton Rouge, LA 70802. The deadline to submit is February 26th. 

Time for a Movie Night!

Did you finish the latest season of your favorite show? Looking for something new and interesting to watch during these cold(ish) nights of Louisiana “winter”? Well look no further, Restore the Mississippi River Delta is excited to share a new documentary film with you, Eternal Flow: Mississippi River Views from Louisiana. This “stacked documentary” by filmmaker Kevin McCaffery is a unique collection of vignettes on different cultural, historical, economic and ecological perspectives on the Mississippi River.

For miles and for centuries, the Mississippi River has been the central pulse of our nation. New Orleanians reflect on the intrigue, history and power of the river that connects and drains so much of North America. From its narrow headwaters in Minnesota, past New Orleans where its mouth empties into the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River’s flow links our past, present and future.

Viewers can learn about an itinerant “River Preacher” who connected rural and urban areas in recent decades; discover the history of the sugar industry in Louisiana, while highlighting the lives of enslaved people; and hear about a “living laboratory” in the Wax Lake Delta – an area of Louisiana’s coast that is building land using sediment and fresh water in a landscape that is otherwise suffering some of the most extreme land loss rates on the planet.

Don’t forget your popcorn and enjoy!

Name that Fish

Help the Pontchartrain Conservancy name their newest resident at the Lighthouse Museum! Gil? GILLigan? Mr. Speck? Splashy? This fish is not just a metal sculpture, it’s a water quality tool that reads information from a sensor in Lake Pontchartrain. And it needs a name!

Vote for one of the name finalists here.

Plantings and Other Events

February 2nd – World Wetlands Day!
Help celebrate by learning a little more about our critical wetlands and what you can do to protect them. 

February 7th – Off the Hook’s Coastal Give Back Night
First Monday of the month means it’s Coastal Give Back Night with Off The Hook, Restore or Retreat and Restore the Mississippi River Delta!! Enjoy good food for a good cause from a local business while supporting our coast! 

February 11th – Central Wetlands Tree Planting
Join the Pontchartrain Conservancy for a native tree planting along Violet Canal in Violet, LA! Together we will plant 500 bald cypress and green ash trees. Forested swamp habitats help absorb violent storm surges, stabilize land along our vanishing coastline, and fight climate change by sequestering atmospheric carbon. Helping restore these essential habitats is one of the most effective ways you can improve the resiliency of your community and bring biodiversity back to our wetlands! More info and registration can be found here.

Want to Work with Us?

The Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition (MRD) is interested in collaborating and funding research to identify benefits and challenges for coastal communities from completed restoration projects in coastal Louisiana. This is an exciting opportunity to work with a large coalition with decades of experience working on coastal issues in Louisiana and a chance to work on the ground with communities most at risk to climate change impacts. This work will help to inform future restoration projects that we will advocate for and how we communicate about them. If interested please consider submitting a proposal of interest.

The scope of work will include:

• Leading a formal social science research project to gather with emphasis on qualitative data, on the benefits and challenges for coastal communities created by completed coastal restoration projects.
• Conducting community-based research by collaborating with diverse communities, including tribal communities, and diverse researchers, HBCU institutions, etc. that are representative of the local population in coastal Louisiana (This will be given weighted consideration during evaluation).
• Working with MRD staff to identify social metrics, including equity metrics, to inform future decision-making, i.e., does the project result in increased publicly harvestable resources (fish/wildlife)? If so, is access to those resources limited (requires a boat, specific licenses, leased land, etc.)
• Developing a final report on project results.
• Regular and ongoing collaboration with MRD staff such as: check-ins, briefings during project development, data sharing, and providing opportunities for feedback and additional guidance.
• Working with MRD staff to submit a manuscript to at least one academic journal for publication.
• Outlining and executing a process to follow up with communities and individuals involved in the data collection to inform them of data findings and analyses.