Looking to the Future
In Region One the most significant project authorized by the Breaux Act is the Diversion into Maurepas Swamp (PO-29). A joint effort by the state and federal government and supported by the local community, this $57.5 million project will revitalize the 36,121-acre swamp by pumping in nutrient-rich fresh water from the Mississippi River. Surveying and design are expected to begin in 2003.
Altogether 13 Breaux Act projects have been completed or are underway in Region One, but more must be done to protect and restore the region's marshes and swamps. "The Breaux Act projects will prevent between 10 and 15 percent of the loss" of wetlands in the Pontchartrain Basin, according to Sue Hawes, project manager for the environment with the New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. "Even after we implement all of the projects proposed in the Coast 2050 plan, we will prevent only about 74 percent of the loss in the basin."
A major cause of historic wetland loss was the construction of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO). This 70-mile, deep-draft, man-made channel was opened in 1963 to shorten the distance from the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of New Orleans. "Forty miles of it were dredged directly through wetlands,"according to Carlton Dufrechou, executive director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation.
Originally 750 feet wide, the outlet has eroded to 2,000 feet in width in many places. The MRGO has contributed to the direct loss of more than 20,000 acres of wetlands and caused more than 36,000 acres of marshes and Lake Pontchartrain to become more brackish. Moreover, it increases the region's exposure to potential damage from storms and tidal surges.
To combat this problem, a task force of many government and non-profit agencies has been formed. "For the first time in a decade, we finally have a consensus," says Dufrechou. "The question now is 'how' and 'when.' "
The Corps of Engineers is currently conducting the MRGO Re-evaluation Study to determine whether it is economically feasible to keep the channel open for deep-draft vessels. Costs for maintaining the MRGO are high — $13.8 million per year. However, even if the study determines that the MRGO should be closed to deep-draft traffic, the closure won't happen before 2015. That is the anticipated completion date for the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal Lock Replacement — a $630 million project that will provide a more efficient route for marine vessels traveling between the Mississippi River and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.
Until the MRGO is closed to deep-draft traffic, the Basin Foundation is recommending the use of "best management practices": requiring deep-draft vessels to travel as slowly as possible to reduce erosion from wakes; and dredging only when necessary and only to a depth of 36 feet.
"If we are going to be serious about conservation and restoration in the area,"says Dufrechou, "we have to start with the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet."