Louisiana Wildlife Federation, along with Environmental Defense Fund, Orleans Audubon Society, and Cajun Fishing Adventures, has filed a motion to intervene as defendants in Jurisich Oysters, LLC v. USACE to ensure the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project moves forward to provide critical community protection and vital ecosystem benefits. The Mid-Barataria project will restore critical flood and sea level rise protections for the region while creating more than 3,000 new jobs regionally and over $2.8B in new economic activity.
Read the statement from the coalition of intervenors.
LWF has long advocated for and supported efforts to divert water from the Mississippi River to benefit its surrounding wetlands. This has been done via messages to LWF members, in press releases, letters to legislative delegations, and to state or federal agency representatives. Since the 1980s, LWF has consistently engaged with National Wildlife Federation to draw attention and support for coastal restoration of Louisiana’s eroding coastline at the national level.
Timeline of Support
On March 8, 1981, LWF adopted Resolution No. L “Freshwater Diversion into Louisiana Wetlands.” With this resolution, LWF took the position that the wetlands of coastal Louisiana were being lost and that the “most feasible means of solving this problem is to divert freshwater from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River” and urged “the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to seek every means at its disposal to implement freshwater diversion projects into the adjacent wetlands to reduce saltwater intrusion and create new wetlands.” This message was sent to Louisiana’s Congressional delegation and governor at that time.
On January 31, 1982, LWF adopted Resolution No. H “Freshwater Diversion at Caernarvon, LA.” This resolution supported the Freshwater Diversion proposed at Caernarvon, LA and acknowledged “the most promising solution to this problem (of coastal wetland loss) is to re-introduce fresh water from the Mississippi River into these marshes.”
On March 6, 1983, LWF adopted Resolution No. 14 supporting the freshwater diversion from the Mississippi River into the Barataria Basin at the Davis Pond Site to preserve and protect wetlands in the basin.
On February 15, 1987, LWF urged the State of Louisiana to develop a “comprehensive plan for the control of coastal erosion and wetland loss” and … “to support a long-term planning and research program to be coordinated with other State and Federal agencies” and “pursue as aggressive a coastal resource management plan as possible through increased funding … to preserve these coastal wetlands for the enjoyment of future generations of Louisianans.” This was done through the adoption of Resolution No. 19 “Louisiana Wetland Loss.”
On February 21, 1988, LWF adopted Resolution No. 35 “Coastal Restoration” supporting “large-scale Mississippi River sediment diversion, wetland restoration and reduction of canal construction in the coastal wetlands.”
On February 26, 1989, LWF acknowledged federal funding would be needed for “major federal restoration projects like freshwater and sediment diversions” and that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers “should give the same priority to protection, restoration and enhancement of wetlands that the agency gives to providing flood control and maintaining navigation.”
On February 21, 1999, LWF adopted Resolution “Implementation of the Coast 2050 Plan” support for the Coast 2050 Plan that promoted “long-term ecosystem-scale strategies” to preserve and protect the landscape of coastal Louisiana for future generations.
On March 16, 2008, with the adoption of Resolution No. 18E, 2008 “Returning the Mississippi River to its Delta,” LWF reaffirmed support for the “state of Louisiana and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to proceed with haste to restore the deposition of sediment in the deltaic plain region, sediment that created coastal Louisiana and which is required for its survival, through the implementation of restoration projects … and other restoration actions that enhance deltaic land building processes.” LWF also affirmed that river sediment could be used to sustain the Mississippi River delta will be lost to the Gulf of Mexico each year if nothing is done to restore the natural hydrology of the Mississippi River.
Regarding the Atchafalaya and Mississippi Rivers’ use of sediment for habitat restoration benefits, on February 28, 2010 LWF adopted Resolution No. 3B, 2010 reaffirming support for “investigation and study of the maximum effective use of the water and sediment of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers for coastal restoration purposes consistent with flood control and navigation,” and that the plans and projects of the Atchafalaya Basin Master Plan be consistent with the state’s Master Plan for Coastal Protection and Restoration, and contribute to the study of the use of water and sediment from the Atchafalaya River for coastal restoration purposes.
Since 2010, LWF has been a partner organization in the Mississippi River Delta Coalition that has promoted restoration of barrier islands and building large sediment diversions. In this effort LWF has engaged sportsmen and women in education and advocacy about how sediment diversion projects and freshwater diversion projects connect the Mississippi River to its adjacent floodplain to sustain the estuaries built by the river.
LWF supported the 2017 and 2023 Louisiana Coastal Master Plans that incorporate the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion as an important restoration project for the Barataria Basin.
As recently as October 24, 2022 LWF submitted comments in support of the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion Project.
LWF has visibly supported keeping open Mardi Gras Pass and Neptune Pass along the Mississippi River to create more wetlands because the benefits and outcomes are obvious. LWF is pragmatic in understanding that this needs to balance with river management related to navigation and other uses of the river.
For decades, LWF has been an ardent proponent for freshwater and sediment diversions as vital tools in restoring Louisiana’s wetlands.
-Rebecca Triche, Executive Director