Frequently Asked Questions
The Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act, (CWPPRA pronounced
kwǐp-rŭh), is federal legislation enacted in 1990 that is designed to identify,
prepare, and fund construction of coastal wetlands restoration projects. These
projects provide for the long-term conservation of wetlands and dependent fish and
wildlife populations with cost-effective plans for creating, restoring, protecting,
or enhancing coastal wetlands. In Louisiana, CWPPRA is often called the “Breaux Act”
in honor of U.S. Senator John Breaux, who helped initiate the legislation.
The basic reasons for coastal land loss include both natural causes and human
activities. Natural causes include hurricanes, subsidence, wave erosion, sea-level
rise and salt-water intrusion. Human activities causing land loss include the
construction of a variety of devices that regulate water and sediment deposition in
Louisiana. These include the construction of river levees, large water control
structures, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, ship canals, and access canals.
CWPPRA funds help to restore Louisiana’s vanishing wetlands. Approximately 40
percent of the coastal wetlands of the lower forty-eight states are located in
Louisiana. Unfortunately, this fragile environment is disappearing at an alarming
rate.
Louisiana has lost up to 40 square miles of marsh per year for several decades –
that’s 80 percent of the nation’s annual coastal wetland loss. To date, Louisiana
has already lost coastal land area equal to the size of the state of Delaware.
This loss is at an average rate of a football field every hour. If the current
rate of loss is not slowed by the year 2040, an additional 800,000 acres of wetlands
will disappear, and the Louisiana shoreline will advance inland as much as 33 miles
in some areas.
Since 1990, CWPPRA has funded wetland enhancement projects nationwide, designating
between $30 and $80 million annually for work in Louisiana alone. As of July 2011,
there were over 155 CWPPRA coastal restoration projects in Louisiana, helping to
build new land and demonstrating the use of new techniques or materials.
There are currently 153 active CWPPRA projects. In September 2016, 108 projects
were completed, benefiting over approximately 100,000 acres. 17 projects are
currently under active construction with 23 additional projects approved and
in the engineering and design phase of development.
To learn more about CWPPRA's ongoing projects visit our projects page.
Louisiana wetlands are unique and vital ecological assets. Wetlands act as a storm
buffer against hurricanes and storms. They act as flood control devices: holding
excess floodwaters during high rainfall (much like a sponge). Wetlands replenish
aquifers, and they purify water by filtering out pollutants and absorbing nutrients.
Wetlands provide habitat for a variety of wildlife. Coastal Louisiana lands 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. This ecosystem also provides a migratory habitat for over five million
waterfowl each year.
People also benefit from Louisiana’s coastal lands. Louisiana is responsible
for a major part of our nation’s oil and gas production, shipping commerce,
fisheries industry, fur harvesting, and oyster production, accounting for over
55,000 jobs and billions of dollars in revenues. Additionally, wetlands are
wonderful recreational resources and are part of Louisiana’s growing ecotourism
business. To learn more about the economic value of our wetlands, read “The Cost
of Doing Nothing” in WaterMarks (Summer 1999), available here.
There are many ways you can help. The first step is learning about Louisiana’s
coastal land loss and restoration efforts. You may also choose to participate in
public meetings so your ideas will be heard. You can support restoration projects
you believe in, and you can help to protect water cycle, since ninety percent of
the rain that falls in coastal Louisiana returns to our wetlands. You can protect
the water cycle by properly disposing of household products, sensibly using
pesticides, maintaining healthy septic systems, and containing chemical spills.
You may also want to volunteer with coastal restoration activities, such as
vegetative planting activities, in your area.
To contribute financially to conservation and restoration efforts along coastal
Louisiana contact one of the coastal wetland stakeholder groups or one of the
federal or state CWPPRA partners. Learn more about the coastal wetland stakeholder
groups or CWPPRA partners here.
Since 1990, a total of approximately 100,000 acres have been created and over
355,647 acres have been enhanced in Louisiana using CWPRRA funds.
The most common types of restoration techniques include water diversion,
shoreline protection, barrier island restoration, outfall management,
dredged material/marsh creation, hydrologic restoration, sediment and
nutrient trapping, marsh management, and vegetative planting.
CWPPRA project planning activities are 100% federally funded. Once a project is
approved, cost sharing is 85% Federal and 15% non-Federal. The non-Federal funds
are often State funds.
In Louisiana, CWPPRA is also known as the Breaux Act because two U.S. senators from
Louisiana, U. S. Senator John Breaux and U. S. Senator J. Bennett Johnson, were
instrumental in getting the legislation initiated and passed. Senator John Breaux
has since played an active role in keeping the Louisiana coastal land loss issue an
active concern among fellow governmental officials and American citizens. Senator
Breaux has also been an advocate for restoration activities taken on by CWPPRA. In
keeping with his commitment to coastal restoration, Senator Breaux has often served
as a speaker and Master of Ceremonies at CWPPRA project dedications.
Coastal land loss does occur in other areas of the United States but not at such an
alarming rate. Puget Sound in Washington, Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island, San
Francisco Bay in California, Galveston Bay in Texas, the Hudson-Raritan Estuary near
New York and New Jersey, Long Island Sound in New York, land near the Gulf of Maine,
North Carolina estuaries, Tampa Bay, the Florida Everglades, as well as many other
wetland areas have experienced habitat loss. Managing any of these delicate habitats
is a complex process.
Educational materials are available through the CWPPRA Outreach Committee and the Louisiana Wetland
Education Coalition. To learn more, visit our education page or email us.yeah
The entirety of the actual CWPPRA Authorizing Bill: Public Law 101-646, Title III can
be found at the Cornell Law Library.
CWPPRA produces a variety of informational and educational materials. Twice a year
the CWPPRA Outreach Committee oversees the production WaterMarks, a magazine covering
topics related to coastal land and habitat loss. Additionally, CWPPRA manages a
listserver called the “CWPPRA Newsflash” and oversees the production of brochures.
CWPPRA project reports, fact sheets, posters, public service announcements,
educational CDs, and lessons. CWPPRA also works with the United States Geological
Survey (USGS) to produce maps related to coastal land loss and restoration activities.
To learn more about informational and educational products contact us at
LaCoast@nwrccom.cr.usgs.gov.
To schedule a speaker, contact Jennifer Guidry at jrguidry@contractor.usgs.gov or call (337) 266-8623.
The CWPPRA Task Force manages the CWPPRA program. The Task Force is composed of the
State of Louisiana and five Federal agencies: the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), USDA-Natural Resources
Conservation Service (NRCS), NOAA-National Marine Fisheries Service, and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers (USACE).
Learn more about the organization of the CWPPRA Task Force.
During ancient times the Mississippi River would naturally overflow its banks in the
springtime, providing new sediments and nutrients to the coastal area from 32 interior
states and southern Canada. Over past centuries, a tremendous amount of suspended soil
was deposited in the shallow Gulf of America, eventually creating new land in south
Louisiana.
The Mississippi River system is now controlled with a series of levees, so the
majority of sediment the river carries down is dropped off the continental shelf into
the deep water of the Gulf of America. Thus, Louisiana’s wetland is basically
experiencing sediment starvation. Current CWPPRA restoration activities are helping
to change this situation.
The Mississippi River has been the lifeblood of the Louisiana wetlands for thousands
of years. Maintaining the delicate balance between human activities and natural
processes along the Mississippi River may be the environmental challenge of this
century.
Use the following template for your citation:
Last name of author, First initial, Year, Title of Article, Title of Magazine & month,year,issue (if applicable), CWPPRA, available at lacoast.gov
DOQQs are Digital Orthophoto Quarter Quadrangles which can be downloaded here (under Aerial Photography).
These images are in a Multi-resolution Seamless Image Database (MrSID) format that
requires ArcView 3.1 or later for viewing. These DOQQs were made by the Louisiana Oil
Spill Coordinator's Office. If you do not want to download the files from our site,
you may contact the office at:
Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office
Office of the Governor
150 Third Street, Suite 405
Baton Rouge, LA 70801
Website
Phone: (225) 219-5800
Fax: (225) 219-5802
Also, the DOQQs index for southern Louisiana can be found at Atlas: The Louisiana Statewide GIS.
That site contains maps to help you pick the desired DOQQs. You can download them at http://atlas.lsu.edu/doqq/.
There are basically three agencies responsible for the bids that go to the Technical
Committee. The Technical Committee (TC) is established by the Task Force (TF) to
provide advice and recommendations for execution of the Program and projects from a
number of technical perspectives, including: engineering, environmental, economic,
real estate, construction, operation and maintenance, and monitoring concerns.
The following three organizations should have information on how you can bid on
Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) projects.
Louisiana Department of Natural Resources
P.O. Box 44487
Baton Rouge, LA 70804
Phone: (225) 342-7308
Fax: (225) 342-6801
U.S. Army Engineer District, New Orleans
P.O. Box 60267
New Orleans, LA 70160-0267
Phone: (504) 862-2077
Fax: (504) 862-1608
USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service
3737 Government Street
Alexandria, LA 71302
Phone: (318) 473-7756
Fax: (318) 473-7747
Learn More
You may want to start by checking our Links page or you may contact us
at LaCoast@nwrccom.cr.usgs.gov and we will be glad to find your answer.