Additional $37M for coastal projects in Louisiana

At its monthly board meeting in Luling, La. the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) yesterday announced grant funding totaling over $37 million dollars for coastal projects in Louisiana.

The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council (RESTORE Council) has awarded $25.5 million to CPRA under its Spill Impact Component Program to fund continued work on CPRA’s Adaptive Management Program.

These funds will build on previous Spill Impact Component investments by CPRA and the RESTORE Council of $34.6 million under the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act) to implement the final phase of the System Wide Assessment and Monitoring Program (SWAMP) under the Adaptive Management Program.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also recently recommended CPRA’s Chandeleur Island Restoration Project to receive $10 million over the next three years under its Transformational Habitat Restoration and Coastal Resilience funding program.

Featured in the 2023 Coastal Master Plan and the Louisiana Wildlife Action Plan, the Chandeleur Islands Restoration Project will improve the function, resilience, and longevity of the island chain by working with nature to reintroduce eroded sand back to the island.

Improvements to the islands will support fish and wildlife in the northern Gulf of Mexico and will provide protection to local communities by reducing the effect of tropical storms.

CPRA is currently in the engineering and design phase of the project, which will restore 13 miles of the barrier island chain.