BTNEP Collaboration Leads to Successful Marsh Mitigation Project in Port Fourchon

The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP) has achieved a milestone by planting over 18,743 plants at a 36-acre marsh mitigation area in Port Fourchon.

The initiative, undertaken in collaboration with the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, marks a significant step in creating a healthy and sustainable marsh ecosystem. The project was initiated to vegetate a marsh creation mitigation bank that had not fully vegetated voluntarily over three years post-construction. The material used to create the mitigation bank was hydrologically dredged from Bayou Lafourche, and the plantings at this site aim to transform the mitigation area into a thriving marsh habitat that will benefit a diverse range of species and contribute to coastal protection efforts.

Matt Benoit, Habitat Restoration Manager, shared that BTNEP has worked with the Greater Lafourche Port Commission for many years. Through the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, the Ridge restoration work got going on their property. Since the 2000s, they have been working with partners to build a Ridge adjacent south of the area that got planted in the last couple of months. From this work, BTNEP is adding ridge and marsh creation projects.

The organization did some plantings and marsh mitigation planning with the port from 2017 to 2019, where Benoit recalled they did around 17,000 plants and offered many volunteers. They contacted BTNEP again about a new mitigation bank, a 36-acre mitigation bank on the north side of the Ridge, the north side of Fourchon Island. They allowed native plants time to grow independently so they would fully populate. However, natural causes slowed the process.

The partnership brought low marsh grass, Spartina alterniflora (smooth cordgrass), high marsh grasses, Spartina patens (marsh hay cordgrass), Paspalum vaginatum (seashore paspalum), and Distichlis spicata (saltgrass), and high marsh shrub, Lycium carolinianum (salt matrimony vine), to the 36-acre area. Ashleigh Lambiotte, the BTNEP native plant nursery coordinator, shared that although the contract agreed on 18,606, they went above and beyond, planting 18,743 plants. Benoit and Lambiott thanked all volunteers who showed up for the feat. Over 70 volunteers from organizations such as Nicholls State University, LOOP LLC (Louisiana Offshore Oil Port), and SLB dedicated their time and effort to the plantings, underscoring the collaborative spirit that underpins such conservation initiatives.