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New Study: Coastal Restoration Unlikely To Keep Up With Land Loss

Elizabeth Chamberlain
/
Vanderbilt University
Bayou Lafourche is an abandoned channel of the Mississipi River. The Mississippi built land in that area about 1,000 years ago. According to new research, the Mississippi River Delta built 2-3 square miles of land per year in those days.

According to new research, the Mississippi River delta will be much smaller in the future — even as the state plans to spend billions trying to rebuild it.

 

The researchers, led by Elizabeth Chamberlain — who is now at Vanderbilt after getting a PhD from Tulane — looked at how the Mississippi River used to build land thousands of years ago, which can illustrate how it might build land in the future. They took samples of sediment up and down Bayou Lafourche — which was the main river channel at the time.

Chamberlain found that, back then, the river built about 2 to 3 square miles of land per year.

According to the paper, Louisiana loses an average of 17 square miles of land each year, and could lose even more once sea level rise speeds up.

 

The state is trying to stop that — by building big, expensive diversions to rebuild lost land with river sediment. The research suggests diversions will build land, but not fast enough.

 

Natalie Peyronnin is a science policy expert with the Environmental Defense Fund. She says that doesn’t mean sediment diversions are futile.

 

“It’s quite the opposite,” she says. “It doesn’t cast doubt on diversions, it actually demonstrates the need to get them built quickly.”

 

Peyronnin says the if diversions are built quickly, there will be more land to protect coastal towns once sea level rise picks up.

 

Support for the Coastal Desk comes from the Walton Family Foundation, the Greater New Orleans Foundation, the Foundation for Louisiana, and local listeners.

As Coastal Reporter, Travis Lux covers flood protection, coastal restoration, infrastructure, the energy and seafood industries, and the environment. In this role he's reported on everything from pipeline protests in the Atchafalaya swamp, to how shrimpers cope with low prices. He had a big hand in producing the series, New Orleans: Ready Or Not?, which examined how prepared New Orleans is for a future with more extreme weather. In 2017, Travis co-produced two episodes of TriPod: New Orleans at 300 examining New Orleans' historic efforts at flood protection. One episode, NOLA vs Nature: The Other Biggest Flood in New Orleans History, was recognized with awards from the Public Radio News Directors and the New Orleans Press Club. His stories often find a wider audience on national programs, too, like NPR's Morning Edition, WBUR's Here and Now, and WHYY's The Pulse.

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