Louisiana is suffering from a coastal land loss crisis. For the past century, hurricanes and human activity have damaged our
wetlands so severely that approximately 25% of the land area in 1932 has been converted into open water. The impacts of
channelization, oil and gas infrastructure, subsidence, and sea level rise are compounded by alterations to the Mississippi
River system that have starved Louisiana’s wetlands of crucial land-building sediment and freshwater. Because of this, we are
losing coastal wetlands at an average rate of a football field every 100 minutes. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands are integral to
our way of living, and these unique and vital ecological assets are worth saving.
Our wetlands provide natural resources, protection from storm damage, and flood control by holding excess flood waters during high
rainfall. Wetlands even replenish aquifers and purify water by filtering out pollutants and absorbing nutrients. In addition to
the ecosystem services they provide to humans, wetlands provide habitat for a variety of wildlife. Coastal Louisiana’s wetlands
are the breeding grounds and nurseries for thousands of species of aquatic life, land animals, and birds of all kinds –
including our national symbol, the bald eagle. These ecosystems also provide migratory habitat for over five million waterfowl
each year and are important nursery grounds for several fisheries. As we lose our coastal wetlands, we lose these important
ecological services that our communities rely on.
To combat coastal land loss, the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act, (CWPPRA)
was enacted in 1990 by the federal government to identify, prepare, and fund the construction of coastal
wetland restoration projects. Since its inception, over 200 coastal restoration or protection projects have
been authorized, benefiting over 100,000 acres in Louisiana. CWPPRA is managed by the State of Louisiana and 5 federal agencies:
Learn more about the CWPPRA program
and our restoration strategies and projects below.
Calendar
View all of CWPPRA's upcoming events and important dates.
Easily import CWPPRA's calendar into your own.
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Take the Virtual Tour
Take the WaterMarks360 Virtual Field Trip of the Caminada Headlands. Learn about the economic and ecological importance of the barrier islands and what we do to protect them.
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Explore CWPPRA's coastal restoration and protection projects in the map below!
Use your mouse to explore, click project sites for more details.