Louisiana CPRA receives $15M grant

The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority has been awarded $15 million for research, data collection, and implementation of its Adaptive Management program to increase effectiveness and flexibility when implementing coastal projects under the RESTORE Act.

The grant from the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) adds to the $19.5 million, previously awarded to CPRA.

“This couldn’t be a more-timely announcement, as these funds are going toward our System Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) to extend it to our southwest coastal parishes,” said CPRA Board Chairman Chip Kline.

“We’re working to increase the monitoring equipment and data westward from Bayou Lafourche to the Louisiana-Texas border, adding to our existing Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) and Barrier Island Comprehensive Monitoring (BICM) programs.”

“This is the kind of data we need to put more coastal restoration and protection projects on the ground in the most efficient and effective manner.”

CPRA is applying the majority of the funds to four major initiatives:

• SWAMP Implementation west of Bayou Lafourche;

• Regional Geology and Sediment Management;

• Data Management; and

• Monitoring Data Interpretations.

An additional $26 million will be available from the RESTORE Council under the Spill Impact Component for Adaptive Management in the future as these funds become available between now and 2031.