Monitoring: The Measure of Success in Saving Louisiana’s Coastal Wetlands

The partnership that was formed in 1990 when Congress passed the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) has been working on multiple fronts to protect and restore Louisiana’s coastal wetlands—developing and implementing ecological and engineering solutions and testing new restoration techniques. CWPPRA authorized 147 projects on 13 annual priority project lists during the first 13 years of the program. However, the current loss rate of 24 square miles a year is still significant, and represents 90 percent of the coastal marsh loss in the contiguous 48 states.

CWPPRA

Louisiana is blessed with an abundance of natural resources. Approximately 40 percent of the coastal wetlands of the lower 48 states is located in Louisiana.

This fragile environment is disappearing at an alarming rate. Louisiana has lost up to 40 square miles of marsh a year for several decades - that's 80 percent of the nation's annual coastal wetland loss. If the current rate of loss is not slowed, by the year 2040 an additional 800,000 acres of wetlands will disappear, and the Louisiana shoreline will advance inland as much as 33 miles in some areas.

This prompted Congress to pass the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in 1990. It funds wetland enhancement projects nationwide, designating approximately $50 million annually for work in Louisiana.

Project List

The CWPPRA Task Force annually develops a list of high-priority projects to be constructed. To date, thirteen such priority lists have been formulated. The projects funded by CWPPRA all focus on marsh creation, restoration, protection or enhancement.

PPL 13 Reports

Site

The Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force web site contains information and links relating to coastal restoration projects in coastal Louisiana.

This site is funded by CWPPRA
and is maintained by the USGS National Wetlands Research Center