Restoring the Louisiana Coast: How hurricane projects near Port Fourchon are protecting land, wildlife and communities

PORT FOURCHON, La. (WVUE) – Chett Chaisson leads a boat tour highlighting a newly constructed section of the marsh near Port Fourchon, the largest oil and gas service facility where he serves as chief executive.

“Right behind this area of ​​land right here is newly created land,” Chaisson said, pointing to a section of reclaimed marshland on the north side of the harbor.

“It’s part of the 1,200 acres of wetlands we’ve created since 2000,” Chaisson said.

Contractors for the $4 million project hauled material and piped it to create an immediate dam.

“Every bit of sand or material that we can put on our beach in any of these areas is better than yesterday,” Chaisson said.

The effort also has an active role in it, providing protection against typhoons.

“We’ve seen (South Lafourche Parish) change a lot in the last few years,” said Simone Maloz, Director of the Campaign to Restore the Mississippi River Delta, a group of environmental organizations that has joined forces to push for coastal restoration projects. .

Maloz notes the effects of Hurricane Ida in 2021, which struck Louisiana Hwy. 1 through Lafourche, an endless life, destroying property and devouring beaches that may never recover.

“We’re in the heart of two of the largest bee colonies here in coastal Louisiana, but really in North America,” Maloz said. “But it’s also the heart of land loss.”

Along the way, Ducks Unlimited worked with Port Fourchon and other partners to install terraces, small man-made islands where the marsh has been turned into open water.

“We’re able to create habitat by building islands in open water that used to be swamps,” said Cassidy Lejeune, Conservation Programs Director. stabilize this area and prevent further loss and erosion from occurring.”

Lejeune said Ducks Unlimited added 80,000 feet of netting at a total cost of $4.7 million, which is modest by beach restoration standards.

It opposes major government plans to restore the Caminada Headland section between Fourchon and Grand Isle.

“It’s really eating an elephant a little at a time,” Lejeune said. “What we do alone doesn’t move the needle, but when we work together with other organizations and agencies and organizations, we can make a difference.”

The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on major projects nearby, including restoring beaches and creating dunes.

“You’re looking at north of half a billion dollars invested just looking a mile this way or two miles that way,” Maloz said.

The newly restored land provides an important stopover for migratory birds, according to Erik Johnson, Director of Conservation Science for Audubon Louisiana.

Billions of birds depend on this coastal area to protect themselves from the occasional bad weather.

Johnson said even a small patch of land could save the lives of birds that have made the long and dangerous journey across the Gulf of Mexico.

“This is how we protect our security,” said Maloz. “This is an example of many forms of protection. It starts on our coast, it starts on the barrier islands.”

As Port Fourchon grew in size in recent decades, digging canals and building new docks, it was required by law to limit the damage.

“We have done above and beyond the reduction because it is the right thing to do and it is what we have to do to preserve or inherit, our culture and our economic way of life,” Chaisson said. .

The state’s major coastal project includes major projects to create hills on both sides of Bayou Lafourche.

Maloz said: “We cannot take our foot off the gas. “We must continue to invest in coastal Louisiana.”

A single project area spanning 29,000 acres from Fourchon to Leeville would exceed $1 billion in cost.

Although the project would restore the wetland in the area with the greatest loss of land, advocates believe that it can only be built in phases.

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