Terrebonne Parish Council approves Coastal Resilience Plan, promoting important coastal projects

During their recent meeting, the Terrebonne Parish Council accepted and approved The Terrebonne Parish Coastal Resilience Plan, helping to secure important funding for coastal projects.

The Terrebonne Parish Coastal Resilience Plan summarizes all the coastal work in the parish over the last 25 years, and is an effort to define projects that would promote coastal resiliency in the parish. The plan will further help secure funding for coastal projects, including the Barrier Islands, marsh creation, ridge restoration, and terracing in western Terrebonne, alongside overlooked and unfunded projects in eastern Terrebonne.

With the future of the parish resting in the wellbeing of our coast, the resolution passed with a unanimous vote of 9 yeas and 0 nays.

The resolution reads as follows: “WHEREAS, the land loss rate along the Louisiana coast since the 1930s is well documented; and, WHEREAS, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) since 2007 has formulated a Comprehensive Coastal Master Plan aimed at stopping Louisiana’s coastal land loss utilizing funding from several sources, including, among others, the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act (CWPPRA), the Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act (RESTORE), and the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA); and,

“WHEREAS, all of these sources have been used for coastal restoration and flood risk reduction project in Terrebonne Parish; and WHEREAS, while funding for coastal restoration projects through CWPPRA has been the most enduring over the past 35 years, these funds are nevertheless extremely competitive; and,

“WHEREAS, to be better positioned to pursue coastal restoration projects from other sources, including federal, the parish’s Coastal Restoration Department has formulated the Terrebonne Parish Coastal Resilience Plan which has been reviewed and approved by Parish Administration; and, WHEREAS, the Terrebonne Parish Coastal Resilience Plan includes projects benefitting and strengthening our Barrier Islands, the marshes of Western Terrebonne, and Eastern Terrebonne, the area of greatest need in the parish; and,

“WHEREAS, Parish Council’s review and acceptance of this Coastal Resilience Plan will demonstrate our resolve in working to arrest land loss in Terrebonne Parish in conjunction with CPRA and help the parish secure alternate funds for any of the coastal restoration projects included in the plan.

“NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE TERREBONNE PARISH COUNCIL, on behalf of Parish Administration and the Coastal Restoration Department that the Terrebonne Parish Coastal Resilience Plan is hereby accepted as the official such plan of the Parish with the hope that needed funds will be forthcoming to implement some of the projects contained in the plan.”

For more information, or to watch the full council meeting, please click here.