$4.8 MILLION WETLAND PROJECT TO CREATE 3,700 ACRES OF LOUISIANA MARSHLANDS

The Commerce Department and Louisiana's Department of Natural Resources recently received $4.79 million to implement two wetland restoration and creation projects that should produce more than 3,700 acres of marshlands near the mouth of Louisiana's Atchafalaya River, the federal agency's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced today.

Administered by the Restoration Center of NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service in cooperation with Louisiana's Department of Natural Resources, the Big Island Mining Restoration Project and the Atchafalaya Sediment Delivery Project will create emergent wetlands and improve natural sediment flow in the area during the project's 20-year span.

The Big Island Mining Restoration Project involves dredging a 6-foot-deep, 500-foot-wide channel through an 1,100-acre, man-made island known as Big Island. The dredged material from the channel will be used to create 310 acres of emergent wetlands in the shape of small delta islands, called lobes. The channel will allow water and sediment to flow around the delta lobes, creating natural marshs. The project site encompasses 2,500 acres of open water and the 1,100-acre island that is bordered by 300 acres of fresh marsh.

The creation of Big Island itself and past maintenance dredging of a navigational channel have prevented natural marsh growth in the western portion of the Atchafalaya Delta. The project should significantly increase delta area by immediately creating 310 acres of emergent wetlands, and eventually generating 500 acres of mud flats and 1,200 acres of vegetated wetlands.

The Atchafalaya Sediment Delivery Project consists of re- opening the Natal Channel and Radcliffe Pass river branches in order to establish natural sediment flow to the eastern portion of the delta. Reestablishing sediment flow and creating 300 acres of emergent wetlands from dredged material should form 1,900 acres of new wetlands in the shallow waters of the delta.

Deposits of dredged material have closed Natal Channel and Radcliffe Pass and cut off the sediment supply to adjacent fresh marshes and shallow delta areas. As a result, delta growth slowed and wetland loss has occurred.

The entire Atchafalaya Delta provides valuable coastal wetland habitat for ecologically and economically important plant and animal species. Commercially harvested fish and shellfish such as red and black drum, menhaden, sand and sea trout, shrimp, and blue crab use the delta as a source of shelter and food. Louisiana waters contributed 75 percent of the total Gulf of Mexico fishery catch in 1993, generating more than $262 million in dockside value.

The projects are funded by the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act of 1990. The Act provides funds to reverse the long-term trend of wetland loss throughout the nation's coastal zone. The Act requires that restoration projects in Louisiana be cost-shared on a 75 percent federal, 25 percent state basis.