Shoreline and Coastal Erosion Blog

STOPPING WATER: Confer Plastics looking to provide breakwater device for Lake Ontario

2006-08-30T14:09:00.000-04:00

By Bill Wolcott/wolcottb@gnnewspaper.com
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal

WhisprWave

WHAT: Plastic Polygon

USE: Breakwater in Olcott Harbor

MAKER: Confer Plastics of North Tonawanda

COST: $1.5 million

YES: Bob Confer of Gasport

NO: Army Corps of Engineers

MAYBE: Rep. Loise M. Slaughter

TRADITIONAL BREAKWALL: $4.7 million

OLCOTT— Imagine a plastic breakwater at the mouth of Eighteen Mile Creek which would make Olcott the pride of harbors along the southern shore of Lake Ontario.

Now, imagine that it would cost $1.5 million instead of nearly $4.7 million. As a bonus, the Krull Park Beach would be significantly improved and more usable for swimmers.

Also, a local company, Confer Plastics of North Tonawanda, could make it and have it installed in a fraction of the time of a traditional rubble breakwall.

Newfane leaders were excited about the prospect. However, the Army Corps of Engineers issued a report through Rep. Loise M. Slaughter’s office saying that WhisprWave won’t work. The Lake Ontario waves are too high.

Waves on Lake Ontario may reach 12-feet and WhisprWave will only protect against waves of 7-feet, according to a report by the Army Corps.

That’s news to Bob Confer, the vice president of Confer Plastics.

“I would believe if the Navy and Coast Guard utilized it in an ocean environment, it could easily handle any waves Lake Ontario is going to have,” Confer said. “The waves that hit Norfolk were 15-feet and there were 100 mph winds.”

Confer thinks the Army Corps of Engineers should consult the Navy and the Coast Guard. WhisprWave has been in the development stage since 1997 and started production in 1999. It was created as a breakwater device. Following the terrorist attracts on Sept. 11, 2001 it got its second use as a harbor protection, battleship protection and as a bridge protection device, according to Confer.

Slaughter has not closed the door on WhisprWave.

“It is critically important to our local economy that we preserve the Lake Ontario shoreline. That is why I secured $70,000 last year for the Army Corps to determine the best ways to protect Olcott Harbor from wave surge,” she said.

“I believe it is imperative that the Corps use the technology that is the most cost-efficient, provides the best protection to the harbor and that has the backing of the local community. If WhisprWave is that technology, then I will work the Army Corps to see that it is considered for this project.”

Dennis Smith of Wave Dispersion Technologies in New Jersey has 27 patents on the 35-pound plastic polygons and Confer Plastics has two more patents for the production of the product in North Tonawanda. Some are used on the Gulf Coast and the Virginia coast. It survived Hurricane Isabel in 2003, according to Confer.

“I was under the impression that the Army Corps was pleased with the design of this project,” said Confer who did not receive the Corps report. “But, they were supposed to get that $5 million to build that breakwater and they wouldn’t want to lose out of the revenues for this thing which is much cheaper.”

The Army Corps’ traditional breakwall version is stone, rubble and wires which would impede water. With WhisprWave, the water flows below the plastic wall allowing fish to swim under it.

“In Olcott’s case, you would lose the fishery because the trout and salmon would not be able to move in the ways they’re used to moving,” Confer said. “A typical breakwater is just a wall. The water will hit the wall and splash. The WhisprWave twists and turns. That takes the physics of the wave and catapults it back into the lake. It turns the energy back upon itself.”

Doug Confer, Bob’s father, and Ray Confer, Bob’s grandfather founded Confer Plastics in 1973. It employs 130 people. Confer makes everything from gas tanks, to swimming pool ladders, to mannequins to new voting machines.

Wave Dispersions Technologies liked the way Confer Plastics exceeded engineering specification, Bob Confer said. Now, the NT plant at 97 Witmer Road is the sole producer.

Some of the hollow plastic polygons are filled with foam to make them stronger. “It’s great,” said plant manager Pete Miller of North Tonawanda. “From the tests that I’ve seen...I’m surprised at how strong they were and what they held up to. They couldn’t get the modules to break.”

There would be three Whisprwave breakwaters of about 500 feet each placed near the federal piers which reach out from Eighteen Mile Creek to Lake Ontario. There would be a smaller breakwater positioned to protect the Olcott beach.

The plastic polygons connected together with rubber tube and stainless steel cables. A series of chains connect to cable and WhisprWave units. They would be anchored to the lake floor on concrete blocks.

Olcott has long seen the need for a breakwall.

“Eighteen Mile Creek has potentially one of the finest natural harbors on the south shore side of Lake Ontario,” Town Attorney Jim Sansone explained. “It has two federal piers that extend out to the north from shore line. The problem is, most of the weather comes from the northeast, north and northwest. It creates a surge and comes in like gangbusters on Eighteen Mile Creek. A breakwall would stop that north surge and create a lot more useable area of the harbor for boating.”

With an increased area for boats, slips and docks, Olcott leaders feel that a break water help the economy, and bring in thousands of boats from Toronto.

“That could really open up our harbor development,” Sansone said. “That would be a great thing for us.” The problem, according to Sansone, is that the Army Corps of Engineers measured 10-11 foot waves on high-storm days. WhisprWave is only designed to break 7-footers. Confer strongly disagrees and thinks the WhisprWave will work.

“It would be a good story for Niagara County and Olcott needed a breakwater. It would be manufactured right here in Niagara County and there would be a tax savings,” Confer said.

“I don’t know how much we can pursue it if Army corps says it won’t work,” said Newfane Supervisor Tim Horanburg. “I’d hate to spend this kind of money and find out it won’t work. They need the Army Corps involved, especially if it’s federal money.

“I would have loved to see it work, but it won’t block that size wave.”

Confer, 31, is a graduate of Royalton-Hartland and SUNY Brockport. He writes a weekly column for Greater Niagara Newspapers which appears on Mondays in the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal.

Contact Bill Wolcott at (716) 439-9222, Ext. 6246.

Full Story

Tags: WhisprWave®, Floating Breakwater, Erosion, Coastal Erosion, Shoreline Erosion, Beach Erosion,

$40B La. Protection Plan Sparks Debate

2005-10-02T21:18:00.000-04:00

By DAVID PACE - Associated Press Writer - Sun Oct 2

WASHINGTON - A $40 billion plan to hurricane-proof the Louisiana coast has ignited a battle over how best to prevent a repeat of this year's double flooding of New Orleans.

Endorsed by the state's congressional delegation, the proposal would create a nine-member independent commission that would give Louisiana a large say in how the federal money is spent.

The huge sums involved and the measure's plan to waive federal environmental laws underscore the dramatic steps that Louisiana lawmakers say is needed to help the state recover from one of the country's worst natural disasters.

The commission — with at least five members from Louisiana — would have final say over Army Corps of Engineers projects to protect New Orleans from the most potent type of hurricanes, known as Category 5, and to restore the coastline, control flooding and improve navigation.

Normal congressional processes for authorizing projects and spending money would be bypassed entirely under the proposal. Environmental laws would be waived once the commission signs off on the work plan, which the corps would have to develop in just six months.

Full Story

Tags: WhisprWave®, Floating Breakwater, Erosion, Coastal Erosion, Shoreline Erosion, Beach Erosion,

NOLA.com - Hurricane Center - Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-28T16:56:00.000-04:00

This site has all of the information about Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Great resource for local information.

Katrina nearing LA

Cat 5 storm has entire Metro area under hurricane warning; hurricane winds expected by 10pm

Tags: WhisprWave®, Floating Breakwater, Erosion, Coastal Erosion, Shoreline Erosion, Hurricane New Orleans, Hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, Beach Erosion,

Category 5 Hurricane Katrina

2005-08-28T12:20:00.000-04:00

By Alex Morales - Bloomberg - August 28, 2005

New Orleans Ordered to Evacuate as Hurricane Katrina Approaches

Katrina was upgraded to category 5 earlier today, U.S. National Hurricane Center spokesman David Miller said in a telephone interview from Miami. Such storms, with winds greater than 155 miles an hour (249 kph) can tear roofs off homes, blow down all trees and shrubs, and cause flooding. Only three Category Five hurricanes have hit the U.S. since records began.

``Katrina continues not only grow stronger, but it continues to grow larger,'' the city of New Orleans said in a statement posted before Nagin's press conference on its Web site. ``Everyone along the northern Gulf of Mexico needs to take this hurricane very seriously and put action plans into play now.''

Only three category five storms have made U.S. landfall since records began, according to the hurricane center: The Labor Day hurricane of 1935, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Andrew in 1992. Andrew, which hit southern Miami-Dade county in August that year, caused $26.5 billion of losses, the costliest hurricane on record.

The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale

Videos of Hurrine Katrina from AccuWeather.com

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Tags: WhisprWave®, Floating Breakwater, Erosion, Coastal Erosion, Shoreline Erosion, Hurricane New Orleans, Hurricane, Hurricane Katrina, Beach Erosion,

Hurricane Katrina - Thes Stories Sounds Eerily Familiar

2005-08-28T11:43:00.000-04:00

I read this story almost a year ago in National Geographic. It is part fiction, part fact about the destruction of the Louisiana marshland and the potential for destruction to New Orleans from a major hurricane. Hurricane Katrina sounds like it could be just this storm. I sincerely hope not, but I thought the potential similarities are eery and worthy of a blog post.

Below is an abstract from the story:

Gone with the Water

Joel K Bourne Jr. National Geographic. Washington: Oct 2004. Vol. 206, Iss. 4; p. 89 (10 pages)

The Louisiana bayou, hardest working marsh in America, is in big trouble with dire consequences for residents, the nearby city of New Orleans, and seafood lovers everywhere.

Get a taste of what awaits you in print from this compelling excerpt.

It was a broiling August afternoon in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Big Easy, the City That Care Forgot. Those who ventured outside moved as if they were swimming in tupelo honey. Those inside paid silent homage to the man who invented air-conditioning as they watched TV "storm teams" warn of a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Nothing surprising there: Hurricanes in August are as much a part of life in this town as hangovers on Ash Wednesday.

But the next day the storm gathered steam and drew a bead on the city. As the whirling maelstrom approached the coast, more than a million people evacuated to higher ground. Some 200,000 remained, however the car-less, the homeless, the aged and infirm, and those die-hard New Orleanians who look for any excuse to throw a party.

The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea level more than eight feet (two meters) below in places so the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it.

Breaux Act Newsflash - National Geographic's October 2004 "Gone with the Water" Article Highlights Louisiana Wetlands

Full Story

I also found another story from The Times-Picayune that provides even more in depth analysis of the potential risks:

Washing Away

It's only a matter of time before South Louisiana takes a direct it from a major hurricane. Billions have been spent to protect us, but we grow more vulnerable every day.

Tags: WhisprWave®, Floating Breakwater, Erosion, Coastal Erosion, Shoreline Erosion, Beach Erosion, Hurricane New Orleans, Hurricane, Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Emily Erodes Beaches

2005-07-20T18:44:00.000-04:00

Emily Strikes Texas' South Padre Island

By PAM EASTON, Associated Press Writer

...

"It tore away at some of the existing dunes, but the beach erosion was nowhere near what I expected it to be," he said. "We were lucky. There is no question about it."

Emily, a Category 3 storm packing 125 mph winds, hit just before dawn near San Fernando, Mexico, a coastal town about 85 miles south of Brownsville. The
National Hurricane Center in Miami said hurricane-force winds extended outward 70 miles.

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Johnny Hernandez said Wednesday there had been no reports of deaths or injuries related to the hurricane.

But more than 18,000 AEP Texas customers lost electric power, said Larry Jones, spokesman for the region's utility company. More than half were in the coastal towns of Port Isabel and South Padre Island, he said.

In Brownsville, about 10,000 customers of the Brownsville Public Utility Board were without power, board spokeswoman Lucila Hernandez said.

Those numbers rose and fell through the morning as each squall passed through the area, Jones said. Once winds die down, crews will make repairs and service should be restored, Jones said.

Buddy Finch, a supervisor with AEP Texas' Port Isabel office, said the hurricane's blow was much less than what he and his crews prepared for.

"I guess it probably cut us a break as far as damage or a direct hit," Finch said. "It's not a bad one for us. I'm sure Mexico is catching heck, but we're OK. You feel for the people who are south of us."

Jared Hockema, an emergency management spokesman, said authorities who surveyed Cameron County found no significant property damage. He said there were a few downed trees and missing shingles from homes, but nothing more.

Storm surges of up to 10 feet along with high tide were expected to cause flooding along the coast, but the storm only caused minor pooling on some roadways.

"It ended up being, as you can tell, just very dry. We get worse storms than this in the Dallas-Fort Worth area," Kunz joked.

As the hurricane approached Tuesday night, South Texas residents toting televisions, video games and coolers settled down on mattresses and blankets to wait out Emily in some of the 14 shelters set up across the region. The
American Red Cross estimated about 4,000 people stayed in the shelters overnight.

Cindy Ruiz, 32, took refuge at Elma E. Barrera Elementary School with 12 other family members, including her husband and eight children. To pass the time, the children worked on puzzle books while adults watched weather reports on the TV they brought along.

She said the worst part of the night was when the storm peaked just before dawn.

"It seemed liked the whole school was going to blow out," said Ruiz, who moved with her family to Texas from Iowa a few months ago. "It was very scary."

Emily hit Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula early Monday with 135 mph wind, causing flooding and ripping roofs off resort hotels. After losing strength, it regained momentum as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico and was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane Tuesday night.

A hurricane warning remained in effect Wednesday for the lower Texas coast from Port Mansfield to the U.S.-Mexico border. Flood and tornado watches were issued for most of South Texas through the morning.

Some residents welcomed the rain that came with the storm to their otherwise parched region. Brownsville got only 2.85 inches of rain during the first six months of this year, about 8 inches below normal.

"It's beautiful," said 87-year-old Juan Manuel Jasso, who sat on his covered porch with his wife enjoying the wind and light rain. "We don't have any problems. We have got plenty of water and plenty of food."

Hurricane Emily roars ashore near Cancun

2005-07-18T10:37:00.000-04:00

25,000 forced into makeshift shelters; storm headed toward Gulf
NBC's Ron Mott reports.

Updated: 9:54 a.m. ET July 18, 2005

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Hurricane Emily swept over the Yucatan peninsula early Monday, snapping whole rows of concrete power lines in half, flooding some streets with knee-deep water and shattering ground-floor windows. There were no immediate reports of deaths or serious injuries as the Category 2 storm headed for the Gulf of Mexico.

Thousands of local residents and foreign tourists spent the night in improvised shelters set up in hotels along the famous Mayan Riviera coastline, on the eastern side of the Yucatan Peninsula.

The storm's wind speeds had soared to as much as 135 mph making it a fierce Category 4 storm when it sideswiped Jamaica on Saturday. It had weakened to Category 2 as it passed over land overnight Sunday.

Monday morning, Emily was located over the Yucatan peninsula near Tizimin, or about 50 miles east-northeast of the state capital, Merida, with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph. The storm was expected to emerge into the Gulf later Monday morning, where it could again gain strength.

Damage from the storm was evident everywhere on the Mayan Riviera, whose white-sand beaches and turquoise waters attract both Mexican and foreign tourists.

Thirty-three islands resort in the archipelago called The World

2005-07-18T10:32:00.000-04:00

Arab island resorts are reshaping geography
United Arab Emirates building 'The World' and other enclaves

"The World," a collection of 300 man-made islands off the United Arab Emirates, is intended to look like its name when completed by 2008.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - From the air, it's an astonishing sight: two gigantic palm trees fallen flat on the sea, which on closer inspection turn out to be an intricate network of manmade islands.

And beyond the palms there's more — 300 artificial islets laid out like a map of the world. There's France, Florida, Ohio, even a mini-Antarctica baking in the 80-degree heat.

The $14 billion project that is reshaping this segment of the Persian Gulf coast is the world's largest land reclamation effort and the focus of one of its most fanciful land rushes. It's also part of Dubai's ambitions to rival Singapore and Hong Kong as a business hub, and Las Vegas as a leisure capital.
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The wealthy are already snapping up the homes on offer, even though few have been built, none has been occupied, and some exist only on maps of what is still open sea.

Even so, nonexistent properties are being sold and resold at serious premiums.

"We have watched it from the beginning. It has just been extraordinary," said Brian Scudder of Oryx Real Estate, a Dubai firm. Scudder said the properties, listed at $780,000 to $1.4 million, have doubled in price since hitting the market in May 2003.

Environmentalists see resort wiping out species

One island sold for $35 million
Thirty-three islands in the archipelago called The World, 2 1/2 miles offshore, have already sold for $7 million to $35 million each.

When the entire project is complete, in five years, there will be three "palms" linked to the mainland by causeways, plus the 6-mile-by-4-mile World, to multiply Dubai's beachfront tenfold to more than 400 miles.

Land reclamation for The Palm Jumeirah, the first and smallest of the archipelagoes, is finished, and construction of 4,000 apartments and homes on its 12 square miles is scheduled for completion early next year.

The largest, 31-square-mile Palm Deira, has yet to rise above the sea and won't be done until at least 2009, but 4,500 of its projected 7,000 homes have already sold, according to the developer, government-controlled Nakheel.

The manmade islands are not without their problems. Environmentalists say some of the millions of tons of sand and rock dropped on the seabed have buried coral reefs and oyster beds and contributed to the decline of fish stocks and turtles. The islands are also altering currents, exacerbating erosion on Dubai's natural beaches.

And the hundreds of thousands of new islanders will be living just 10 feet above the waterline. Last month, giant waves swept away five workers on the Palm Jebel Ali, one of whom drowned.

"If you build on a low coast like that you're exposing yourself to dramatic consequences, a high wave or high sea, or even if the sea rises," said Frederic Launay, director of World Wide Fund for Nature in Abu Dhabi.

No oil, but lots of resorts
Dubai, one of the seven territories that make up the United Arab Emirates, is ruled by tribal sheiks — not exactly President Bush's idea of democracy — and lies in a Middle East known mainly in the West for conflict.

Yet Dubai is among the world's safest cities, an alternate reality to war-ravaged Iraq 600 miles to the north.

Lacking the oil that has enriched other Gulf states, this Rhode Island-sized emirate is determined to be a global business player without oil. It has scotched almost all taxes, offers luxury resorts and shopping, and is open to foreign investors and residents. Its natural assets include pale sandy beaches and almost guaranteed sunshine.

"By the 1990s, all the beaches were developed. So we decided to build more," said Hamza Mustafa, assistant sales manager for Nakheel, which is controlled by Dubai's crown prince, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Sheik Mohammed ordered Nakheel to build the beach islands and personally signed off on the palm design, which maximizes beach frontage, Mustafa said.

"Every grain of sand is utilized for beach," Mustafa said.

For three years, the sea has bustled with barges dropping 6-ton boulders into water as deep as 70 feet, and dredgers blowing rainbows of sand sucked from the bottom.

Wetlands loss makes area more vulnerable to storms

2005-07-12T00:25:00.000-04:00

NEW ORLEANS — Last week's Tropical Storm Cindy caused a disturbing amount of damage, making matters worse as Hurricane Dennis approaches the Gulf Coast.

"Tropical Storm Cindy demonstrated that with advanced coastal erosion in Louisiana, widespread disruptions and impact now result from a strong storm," said Mark Davis, executive director, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. "Two years ago around New Orleans there was general hesitation regarding evacuation plans. Today the public is anxious as the realization of the inevitable has set in — a direct hit from a strong hurricane will be devastating."

More than 5,000 square miles of wetlands, an area known as America's WETLAND, protect Louisiana by acting as a natural barrier for hurricanes and the storm surges they produce. Since the 1930's, however, Louisiana has lost almost 2,000 square miles of its protective wetlands, with another 500 square miles expected to be lost over the next 50 years.

Hurricane hazard briefing on Capitol Hill

2005-07-12T00:23:00.000-04:00

Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are predicting at least seven Atlantic hurricanes this year, with as many as five matching Ivan's destructive force. An unprecedented four hurricanes struck Florida in rapid succession during the fall of 2004. Since 1900, tropical storms making landfall on the U.S. Gulf Coast have caused more than $100 billion in damages (adjusted to 2004 dollars). Over the past 30 years coastal population growth has quadrupled; more than 69 million people now reside along the hurricane prone coastlines in the United States.

South Palm Beach seeks to join renourishment plan

2005-06-01T14:45:00.000-04:00

By Margie Kacoha, Daily News Staff Writer

Thursday, May 26, 2005

SOUTH PALM BEACH — The town will go forward with a study of its dwindling beach, and town officials will meet with their neighbors to the north to discuss the possibility of joining Palm Beach in its planned beach renourishment project.

The Town Council unanimously agreed Tuesday to contact Palm Beach County to request a feasibility study of beach restoration, using one of the county's pre-qualified consulting firms.

$US3 billion to reclaim a 24-square-kilometre island

2005-06-01T07:54:00.000-04:00

Man-made islands sweeping the Gulf

Qatar man made island inspired by pearls
May 16, 2005

Man-made islands shaped like palm trees and a map of the world are already rising above the turquoise Gulf and Bahrain wants to join the craze by building an island of its own - in the shape of a seahorse.

The tiny island country says it wants to spend $US3 billion to reclaim a 24-square-kilometre island off its northeast coast.

But the plan is already raising concerns it will bury a coral reef and cause other damage to the fragile Gulf marine environment, which supports a wide variety of species - including seahorses.

The project heralds Bahrain's attempt to cash in on a lucrative real estate boom sweeping across other Gulf countries, especially Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where properties on four manmade archipelagos - being built at a cost of US$14 billion - have doubled in price even before they are built.

Three of them are shaped like palm trees, and the fourth is an archipelago resembling a map of the world.

The nearby State of Qatar is also building luxury developments on reclaimed land, with shapes inspired by pearls, in a bid to boost tourism and attract foreign investment.

Reps Walter B. Jones & G.K. Butterfield Ask for $20 million for North Carolinian Waterways

2005-05-31T14:32:00.000-04:00

Intracoastal Waterway shoaling worsening
By BILL SANDIFER, Staff Writer

While Americans fear terrorist attacks from abroad, Eastern North Carolinians may have more immediate fears for the region's economic viability as a result of domestic spending cuts.

Soaring federal deficits have resulted in cuts in many domestic programs, including maintenance of the Intracoastal Waterway, considered key to Eastern Seaboard coastal economies.

Last year's federal budget saw ICW maintenance funding slashed to zero. A $3 million House appropriation transfer allowed limited work to continue.

The problem is considered acute because a combination of strong tides, storms and heavy waterway use -- by both pleasure boaters and commercial craft -- shift a huge volume of sand and silt, creating many shallow areas in waterways and inlets.

The issue has spurred bipartisan calls for funding from a number of the state's Congressional leaders, among them Republican 3rd District Rep. Walter B. Jones and Democratic 1st District Rep. G.K. Butterfield.

Jones issued a news release Monday, calling for a $20 million increase in the Army Corps of Engineers budget.

"The President and my colleagues in Congress," wrote Jones, "need to remember that these waterways are all federal projects which the taxpayers paid for. We need to protect that investment."

Jones, in offering an amendment to a funding bill, cited a $1.7 billion backlog in Corps' operation and maintenance projects, urging President George Bush not to let a declining national resource become an entrenched problem.

NJ town will spend $500,000 in the next few months to install

2005-05-31T13:39:00.000-04:00

BEACHES HOLDING THEIR OWN SO FAR
Published in the Asbury Park Press 05/29/05
BY TODD B. BATES
ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER
(FIRST OF TWO PARTS) ...

... But massive beach replenishment projects have destroyed prime surfing spots, critics have complained. Such projects also have filled in underwater habitats for marine life and seem to encourage building in storm-prone coastal areas.

Under a broad coastal initiative unveiled by acting Gov. Codey last month, the state will provide $40,000 and technical help to the Surfrider Foundation and Surfers' Environmental Alliance to design and build a new reef to restore and enhance surfing opportunities, according to a document on the DEP Web site.

Since last summer, 12 minor storms have affected the Jersey Shore, according to the State of the Shore report.

They don't include this week's nor'easter.

From Oct. 18 through Oct. 27, strong onshore winds and waves caused moderate erosion along most of the coast and severely affected some Long Beach Island areas, the report says.

From March 24 through May 7, eight minor storms resulted in moderate erosion along most of the coast south of northern Ocean County, as well as severe erosion in the Long Beach Island areas that had not recovered from the October storm, the report says.

Beach Haven and the DEP will spend $500,000 in the next few months to install geotubes between Merivale and Nelson avenues in the borough in a bid to stop beach erosion there, according to Benjamin Keiser, a DEP coastal engineer.

Scientists, residents debate merits of sand replenishment

2005-05-26T10:52:00.000-04:00

By Sue Lindsey, The Associated Press
VIRGINIA BEACH — Carolyn Williams and her husband built a house in the aptly named community of Sandbridge in the 1960s when it had "a nice wide beach."

The strip was much narrower when they retired to the area in 1989, and had eroded to a thin ribbon by the time of its first beach replenishment project in 1998. More sand was dredged from the ocean floor to bolster the beach two years ago.

"The projects were super, to give us that extra beach," she said. "We really needed it."

And now Sandbridge — as well as Virginia Beach's more commercial resort strip to the north — needs sand again. One million cubic yards apiece, to be exact, at a cost of some $17.6 million.

Coastal engineers say beaches ravaged by storms naturally reshape themselves to some extent within about six months. But to maintain them as wide, sandy spaces attractive to tourists, they need an infusion of sand every few years.

Forever

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-14-va-beach-erosion_x.htm

Could NJ's Wave Dispersion Technologies help NJ's Beaches?

2005-05-25T09:51:00.000-04:00

Shore group: Beaches mostly in good shape for season

By JOHN CURRAN
Associated Press Writer

May 24, 2005, 4:44 PM EDT

SPRING LAKE, N.J. -- A lack of severe coastal storms gave New Jersey beaches a break this winter, but a series of minor storms since then has chipped away at the coastline, aggravating beach erosion problems at Long Beach Island, Ventnor and Ocean City.

So says the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium, which released its annual State of the Shore report Tuesday in anticipation of the unofficial start of summer this weekend.

"We had a very abnormal winter," said Thomas Herrington, professor of coastal engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology. "We didn't have a major storm. We didn't have any flooding or a tremendous loss of beach due to one storm."

Instead, minor storms _ which seem mild but cause pounding surf that steadily claws sand away from beaches _ beginning in late March severely eroded beaches in Harvey Cedars, Beach Haven and a northern section of Ocean City, according to the report.

"While beach visitors may find less room for their beach chairs in early June, they should expect to see a wider beach as the summer progresses," with the lost sand returning to beaches from offshore sand bars, the report said.

In Ventnor, just south of Atlantic City, work crews are still cleaning up the mess left after storms gouged huge chunks out of a 12-foot high dune built last year as part of a $24 million shore protection project in Atlantic City and Ventnor.

Waves lopped off the ocean side of the dune in a 10-block area, creating a dangerous hazard to pedestrians walking toward the water over wooden walkways.

The city got permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection to raze the dune in that area, pushing the sand back away from the water and under the city's boardwalk.

The work isn't finished yet, but four Ventnor beaches unaffected by the storms will be open and staffed with lifeguards beginning this weekend, City Administrator Andrew McCrosson said.

"We were all surprised at the severity of the erosion," McCrosson said.

Meanwhile, Long Beach Island and other municipalities hoping for federal aid to shore up beaches face an uphill battle...

more at http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--jerseybeaches0524may24,0,1681119.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey

That sinking feeling: Louisiana is losing its coastal marshlands

2005-05-23T11:44:00.000-04:00

By Dahleen Glanton

Chicago Tribune

Enlarge this photoMILBERT O. BROWN / KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS

The stream in front of this home in the Isle de Jean Charles, a small area on the Louisiana coast, has been enlarged over the years because of a slow onslaught of salt water.

ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, La. — At the end of a two-lane road, surrounded by water and patches of grassy marsh, an old American Indian village dangles near the edge of the earth.

All around it the land is sinking, pushing the tiny coastal community toward the Gulf of Mexico. Still, the 250 people who live here — all descendants of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians who settled the land in the 1800s — refuse to leave, despite an offer by the U.S. government to find them new homes.

"Everything here is just wasting away," said Michel Dardar, 76, a lifelong resident who, like most of his neighbors, is raising his house atop 13-foot stilts to keep floodwater out. "When I was growing up, everyone had a garden. We grew green beans, potatoes and watermelons. Now there is nothing. I don't even have a back yard anymore."

The huge loss of land in Isle de Jean Charles, about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans, is one of the most glaring examples of the coastal erosion occurring throughout southern Louisiana, home to 40 percent of the nation's wetlands. During the past 75 years, 1,900 square miles of marshland — roughly the size of Delaware — sank into the gulf. If nothing is done to stop it, scientists say, Louisiana could lose about 700 more square miles — a chunk the size of Chicago and Los Angeles combined — by 2050.

The problem is caused, in part, by the channeling of the Mississippi River approved in 1928, which inadvertently deprived Louisiana of silt, mud and other sediment that naturally rejuvenated the marshland. Now Louisiana officials are asking the federal government to help pay for a proposed $14 billion project to save the delta.

Massive reclamation planned
During the next 20 to 30 years, the project would have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers build a massive diversion system to channel water from the Mississippi River to the dying wetlands.

The corps also would rebuild beaches and restore the barrier islands, install erosion controls, plug basins and bayous to stop the flow of salt water into the marshes and plant new vegetation. The project, expected to go before Congress this session, would be the most ambitious civil-engineering effort ever undertaken in the United States, including the current restoration of the Florida Everglades.

"We fret about the Amazon and we worry about the Nile, but within our own borders, we have a national catastrophe of huge proportion," said King Milling, chairman of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Coastal Restoration and Conservation and president of America's WETLAND Foundation. "This is the seventh-largest delta on Earth, and it is in a state of collapse. From our standpoint, there is little doubt that if we don't do something, we have over a million people whose lives and businesses are at risk."

For centuries the marshland, with its thick vegetation, served as a barrier protecting places such as Isle de Jean Charles and New Orleans from hurricanes and tropical storms. As the land is chipped away, these areas — most of which lie at or below sea level — become more vulnerable to floods. A tropical storm could wipe out Isle de Jean Charles and a major hurricane could sink New Orleans, killing by Red Cross estimates up to 100,000 people in that city. To ensure safety, the agency no longer operates hurricane relief shelters south of Interstate Highway 10, which crosses the state from New Orleans to Lake Charles.
The loss of coastal marshland, once a rich trapping ground for raccoons, muskrats and minks, threatens not just the American Indians but the Cajun community, which settled here in the 1760s.

What happens in this obscure part of Louisiana where tourists rarely venture ultimately could have an effect nationwide. The deteriorating wetlands threaten Louisiana's $2.2 billion-a-year fishing industry, one of the nation's largest, with shrimp, oysters, crabs and other seafood.

Erosion takes bite out of beaches

2005-05-20T04:10:00.000-04:00

By:AIMEE COUTURE
05/18/2005

SOUTH COUNTY - The constant drum of waves crashing on the shoreline has made erosion of beaches in South County an annual concern.
And as each individual snowflake is different, so are Rhode Island's beaches, including how they erode.
Recently Janet Freedman, a coastal geologist for the Coastal Resource Management Council, brought maps, photos and information about Rhode Island's beach erosion with her to South Kingstown Town Beach, a prime example of the power of those waves.
The maps whipped and rippled in the wind as she pointed out why some beaches tend to erode faster than others.
"Some years beaches can lose as much as 20 feet, but then they won't lose anything for the next two or three years," Freedman said.
About ten years ago there was worry about Charlestown Beach's erosion. Now the focus is on South Kingstown Town Beach.
South Kingstown and Warwick are the only municipalities to have applied for a beach nourishment permit this year, indicating to Freedman that those are of main concern.
Currently CRMC and several other federal agencies are reviewing the applications. If approved, the towns will be able to truck in sand to temporarily replenish what has been lost.
"At many of the other beaches there is not development present and erosion isn't as big of a problem. They are very dynamic," she said.
At beaches like South Kingstown, where part of the pavilion is now unsafe and cordoned off, erosion is a "major concern."
There are two options: relocate the pavilion or replenish the sand.
An ongoing project to restore Charlestown Beach, which recedes about three feet a year, and restore the eelgrass population that is being choked out by sand, began last year. Sand from Ninigret Pond is being pumped back onto the beach.
The eelgrass is the focus of the project, said Freedman. However, she said, "We don't want to waste the sand that we dredge so it will become part of the beach."
Due to this project and natural flow of sand, Charlestown Beach is "in pretty good shape."
Beaches erode differently for a variety of reasons, Freedman said.
On this particular day at South Kingstown Town Beach, a spring tide, where the sun, earth and moon are aligned, creates more pull on the ocean and more of a surge on shore.
The fetch, or distance a wave moves, is larger at beaches like this, where the beach faces the open ocean and the wave has an uninterrupted distance to travel and build up as it comes in.
"You still get that at Narragansett and Scarborough, but it happens more here," she said.
Wave dynamics depend on the way the land beneath the water's surface is shaped, called the bathymetry or seafloor topography.
"You see how the wave moves from the surface, but that wave is also moving underwater," she said. "When that wave breaks further out on a sand bar, it loses a lot of energy out there. But when it breaks in a shallow spot on shore all of its energy lands there."
Beaches with gently sloping shorelines don't erode as quickly as those with quick drops in elevation.
While looking over the aerial pictures and those taken on the shoreline of Rhode Island's coast, Freedman said the shoreline loss is due mostly to storms.
Strong wind, waves and storms have taken sediment out of the system without completely replacing it.
"There's a lot of energy on the shoreline and unconsolidated sand moves the easiest," she said.
In the long run most erosion happens either during winter nor'easters or hurricanes.
According to the CRMC's figures, East Matunuck State Beach in South Kingstown has seen the worst shoreline loss.
East Matunuck State Beach loses between 2.5 to 3 feet of shoreline a year. "These are barrier beaches that are separated from the shoreline with sand that tends to migrate," she said.
Barrier beaches are narrow, low-lying strips of beach and dunes that are parallel to the coastline and are separated from the mainland by bodies of water or wetland.
They were created and are constantly changed by coastal processes like erosion.
The hurricanes of 1938 and 1954 demolished many homes there, but the beach, though smaller, still remains.
Scarborough State Beach in Narragansett is another where the tides can reach up over much of the sand.
"At high tide the water can go up to the pavilion, especially if there's any storm surge," Freedman said. During a spring tide, which can also occur in the summer, there's not a lot of beach there and if that happens on a weekend many people take notice."
She said that at those peak hours people will say, "Wait! What happened to the beach?" but if they wait a few hours, the tide will recede.
Another natural cause of lessening shorelines is the rise of ocean levels. According to CRMC reports, the water levels at some of Newport's beaches have risen, on average, a little more than a half a foot since 1929.

Sumptuous hotel rises on Abu Dhabi coast

2005-05-14T14:35:00.000-04:00

ABU DHABI (AFP) - Racing to catch up with bustling Dubai, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital of Abu Dhabi has adorned its Gulf coast with a sumptuous piece of architecture as part of moves to claim its share of tourists.

On March 7, the city inaugurated a fairy tale-like hotel which, with a massive arch at the entrance, 114 domes decorated with ceramic, huge marble pillars, 1,000-plus crystal chandeliers and halls as large as avenues, is more of a residence fit for royals than what would normally pass for a hotel.

Appropriately named "Emirates Palace," the establishment is owned by none other than the government of Abu Dhabi, whose emirate is the largest and wealthiest of the seven-member UAE, pumping some 90 percent of the country's crude.

The exact cost of this monument -- whose construction began more than three years ago, required 12,000 laborers and is still not totally over -- remains a secret.

But money, which has been flowing thanks to rising oil prices, was clearly not an issue.

Protecting beaches: how you can help

2005-05-14T14:18:00.000-04:00

Coastal management sourcebooks 1
Chapter 3

This chapter describes several ways in which residents and visitors can improve the quality of beaches. Some of the activities can be undertaken by individuals, while others are more suitable for group projects. Whether you are a visitor to an island or a resident, you too can help to ensure that the beaches will be available for future generations to enjoy. Here’s how.

Adopt a beach

A local community, school, service group or some other adopts one particular beach and undertakes various activities over the years to enhance it. The group takes responsibility for the beach and becomes a custodian of the natural resources at the beach. These projects are a good way of getting a community or group involved in beach management and of improving the environment for all. The activities can be tailored to any particular beach. Examples are:

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vegetation replanting projects;
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beach clean-ups;
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provision of litter bins;
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warning notices for manchineel trees;
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installation of wooden walkways along public accesses; and
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demarcation using buoys of swimming-only areas.

Everyone can contribute to maintaining and improving the beach environment.

Undertake a beach clean-up.

Beach clean-ups are often a popular activity, since the results are immediately apparent. They can be held to coincide with events such as World Environment Day (5 June) and Fisherman's Day in the Caribbean (29 June), or with other local events. However, subsequent littering can be discouraging for volunteers, particularly children. Combining clean-ups with other activities, such as public awareness-building campaigns and the provision of litter bins, is a way of finding a sustainable solution. However, remember that it is also necessary to co-ordinate such activities with the local solid-waste disposal agency.

Clean-up activities should be combined with education and information. Local authorities should also be involved.

Take part in the International Beach Clean-up.

This is a global activity organized by the Center for Marine Conservation in Washington. It takes place every September and has four main functions: to remove debris from the shoreline; to collect information on the amount and type of debris; to educate people; and to use the information to effect positive change.

Groups select a beach to clean and gather up the debris. They then complete a data card on which they itemize the numbers and different types of debris. (A sample of the data card is shown in Appendix II.) These data cards are then sent to the Center for Marine Conservation where statistics are compiled each year and the information is then used to lobby international bodies like the International Maritime Organisation to take some form of action to control ocean debris.

Several Caribbean islands participate in an international campaign to clean up beaches and reduce pollution.

Debris on Caribbean beaches originates not only from ocean-going ships but also from land sources, so it is also important to look at local sources of debris like coastal rubbish dumps.

The actual clean-ups also serve to heighten people’s awareness of the magnitude of the problem, thereby triggering interest and new ideas for solutions. Several Caribbean islands already take part in this activity.

For more information about the programme, readers are invited to contact:

Center for Marine Conservation
1725 DeSales Street, NW,
Washington DC 20036, USA
Telephone: 202 429 5609

Conduct a revegetation project on the beach or dunes.

This project is not only satisfying, but also very worthwhile. It can be carried out on a small scale using just a few plants or on a much larger scale. Various factors relating to beach planting projects are described in Cases 7 and 8. These are briefly summarized hereafter.

Consult a local horticulturist on your island for advice with your beach planting project.

Use local species. If you are planting trees in the Caribbean, here are some suggestions: sea grape (Coccoloba uvifera), seaside mahoe (Thespesia populnea), West Indian almond (Terminalia catappa), coconut palm (Cocus nucifera) and casuarina, also known as Australian pine (Casuarina equisetifolia).

If you are planting grasses, vines or smaller plants, here are some other suggestions: seashore dropseed (Sporobolus virginicus) panicgrass (Panicum amarum v. amarulum), beach morning-glory (Ipomoea pes-caprae), beach bean (Canavalia maritima) and sea purslane (Sesuvium portulacastrum).

Always plant well above the high water mark. Even if the winter storm waves only reach the young plants once in the winter season, it is unlikely that they will survive, so this decision is important. Obtain advice from people familiar with the beach about the highest reach of swell waves and plant landward of this point.

Remember, the beach or dune is a very harsh environment for plants, so try to get your new plants off to a good start by: ensuring they are a reasonable size; by providing fertilizer, especially nitrogen fertilizer; and by spreading a layer of mulch (dead leaves or seagrass) around the plant to reduce wind and water erosion and to promote moisture retention.

Follow-up care is the most important element in any planting project. For the first few months, the plants will need watering on a regular basis, especially if planting takes place in the dry season. Additional fertilizer may also be necessary. Fences or tree guards are a must if animals roam freely in the area.

Remember to take ‘before’ and ‘after’ photographs to document your project.

Revegetation projects work best using local species planted well above the high water mark.

Monitor sea turtle nesting activity.

Sea turtles live in the ocean, but nest on land. Due to over-harvesting and disturbance of their habitat, they are now an endangered species.

Sea turtles are reptiles that live in the ocean. The most common species in the Caribbean are the Leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea), the Hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) and the Green turtle (Chelonia mydas). These gentle giants are endangered mainly because of over-harvesting. Hawksbill turtles are harvested for their shells, Green turtles for their meat and Leatherback turtles particularly for their oil, which has medicinal qualities.

Sea turtles use the Caribbean beaches to nest, usually at night. Leatherback and Green turtles nest on the back beach area, while Hawksbill turtles often make their nests in the coastal vegetation. A female may nest several times each season. After a few weeks’ incubation in the nest, the baby turtles emerge and head for the sea.

Beach nourishment debate continues

2005-05-14T14:13:00.000-04:00

By Ed Beckley, Sentinel staff

At its April meeting, the Manteo precinct of the Dare County Democratic Party heard all the reasons why the Dare County Board of Commissioners thinks beach nourishment is a good idea, as told by Commissioner Warren Judge.

Saturday, it was time to hear about the other side of the coin.

Precinct Chairman Pat Fulk told members, "Today we'll hear the complete opposite side of the question."

Cape Hatteras Coast Keeper Jan DeBlieu, representing the non-profit North Carolina Coastal Federation, said her organization is not unilaterally opposed to beach nourishment. She gave examples where it has worked under certain circumstances, such as at Wrightsville Beach. She was clear, however, that she does not believe those circumstances exist in areas under consideration for nourishment on the Outer Banks.

DeBlieu said that "nature wants the island to move west. The barrier islands are being pushed to the west, lap by lap of the waves," in what she called a natural barrier island migration system. Big storms such as Hurricane Isabel, and the nor'easter that struck here Thursday and Friday, "gave us a big shove to the west."

She said that beach erosion is like rust: you can slow it down a bit, but eventually it wins.

DeBlieu said that several hundred years ago, the ocean would wash over the lowlands of the islands, to the sounds. The overwash would push sand to the west side, nourishing the marshes there, and the cycle would continuously repeat itself. Dune-building projects on the oceanside in the 1930s didn't stop the natural system, and only has served to heighten erosion here.

She said that when storm surges wash along the dunes, the water undercuts the dunes and then the north and south currents simply wash the sand out to sea. Preventing the overwash of sand to the sound is starving the marshes, which also is causing erosion on the west side.

DeBlieu said she believes that a number of areas along the south beaches areas will probably disappear altogether in 50 to 100 years due to man-made attempts to thwart the island's migration pattern.

If beach nourishment works at Wrightsville Beach, then why not here?

Slipsliding Away

2005-05-14T14:10:00.000-04:00

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, May 12, 2005

By Arthur Gregg Sulzberger
Journal Staff Writer

Coastal erosion makes its mark on South County beaches

SOUTH KINGSTOWN -- As beaches reopen this spring, regular visitors may wonder whether the boardwalk at South Kingstown Town Beach or the expensive beach homes are farther from the water than they were a couple of years ago. Foggy memory is not to blame.

It's Rhode Island's beaches that are moving, cutting deeper and deeper inland at more than a foot a year. While natural, coastal erosion can be unnerving, storm-wracked beaches appear to have all but disappeared and homes once boasting a safe barrier from the Atlantic now seem dangerously close to the waves.

"The shoreline erosion has been going on for hundreds of years and nobody paid attention because nobody needed to," says Jon Boothroyd, a professor of geology at the University of Rhode Island and an expert on beach erosion.

Heavy coastal development, he said, is a relatively recent phenomenon. "People say the beach is going away. They beach is not going away, the beach is just as wide as it's ever been, it's just going under your house."

Indeed, for the most part, the golden band that marks South County's sandy ocean border has stayed the same size even as it has moved steadily inland. In places such as Green Hill Beach, waves now wash over the broken foundations of homes once safely set back from the ocean.

It's an uneven process, affecting some areas more than others and difficult to predict. This winter, a barrage of small storms exacted a relatively small toll of most of the county's beaches.

In South Kingstown, however, patrons of the short stretch of sand in the heart of cluttered Matunuck Village will find the Town Beach dramatically changed.

The surging winter waves have carved out a massive slice of coastline running nearly to the grassy dunes that had marked the beginning of the beach. In early April, nearly 5,000 tons of sand were whisked away by the ocean, clouding the water a deep brown. Left behind is a long stretch of sandy cliff line, ranging from a foot in some places to more than six feet in others, marked with layers of sand, silt and clay, and dotted with pebbles and the occasional boulder. Topping the sediments is a dark band of the rich soil, a remnant of the town's long gone farms that worked the land when it sat far removed from the salty ocean shoreline.

The inland crawl of the ocean serves as a reminder of the dangers of building near the shore. The receding sands have exposed the long-buried wooden pilings that support the elevated wooden boardwalk that snakes along the beach for several hundred feet. The final third of the walk has been closed off for safety.

As waves crash on the pilings, Andy Nota, the South Kingstown parks and recreation director, says he has no doubt that the decade-old walk will eventually be dismantled. The town has hired structural engineers to see whether it is even sturdy enough to reopen this summer. The beach opens for weekends on Memorial Day weekend and full time in mid-June.

Scientists, beach residents debate the merits of sand replenishment

2005-05-14T13:54:00.000-04:00

05/14/2005

By SUE LINDSEY / Associated Press

Carolyn Williams and her husband built a house in the community of Sandbridge in the 1960s when it had "a nice wide beach." The strip was much narrower when they retired to the area in 1989, and had eroded to a thin ribbon by the time of its first beach replenishment project in 1998.

"The projects were super, to give us that extra beach," she said. "We really needed it."

More sand was dredged from the ocean floor to bolster the beach two years ago. And now Sandbridge — as well as Virginia Beach's more commercial resort strip to the north — needs sand again, according to a city engineer. One million cubic yards apiece, to be exact, at a cost of some $17.6 million.

A project at Hunting Island State Park near Beaufort, S.C., is estimated at $8.1 million.

Those assessments come before the battering possible from this year's hurricane season even begins. Some $130 million in federal funds were spent to restore Florida beaches after last year's hurricanes.

Beaches are ravaged by storms, but they heal and reshape themselves within six months, said Phill Roehrs, a coastal engineer for Virginia Beach. However, to maintain them as wide, sandy spaces attractive to tourists they need an infusion of sand every few years.

Forever.

La. musician joins coastal erosion fight

2005-04-28T23:29:00.000-04:00

Jo-El Sonnier was born in Louisiana. His music has spoken to the very souls of die-hard fans all over the country. He has worked in California and recorded in Nashville, but his home is in Louisiana.

Sonnier made an appearance at the home of Morgan City resident Peter Businelle, who organized an informal press conference. While Sonnier is reluctant to announce any specifics, he is currently meeting with others to put together a project to raise awareness on coastal erosion.

Sonnier’s wife and manager, Bobbye, likens the concept to Farm Aid. She said the project, if it comes through, would stretch across the Gulf Coast.

B. Sonnier said she and her husband know relatively little about the project, and they will attend a meeting on Friday to learn and plan more.

“We don’t know all the details, we don’t know all the people involved,” she said. “We don’t want to do something small-scale because the local people already know about the problem.”

She said the idea is to start here and along the Gulf Coast and expand the operation. “Then, hopefully, it will become a big, big thing,” she said.

While her husband expects the project to blossom, possibly into more land-locked regions of the nation, he said the extent of the project is not his decision.

“That’s not me that will elect that. I would just be (involved) as a performer,” he said.

Businelle said he plans to work with Sonnier on the project, which also will include fund-raising activities. Businelle does tributes to Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley. He said the gathering Monday was to get people to see Sonnier’s idea.

And they did. In addition to print, radio and television media outlets, Morgan City Mayor Tim Matte and Morgan City Councilmen Luke Manfre and Jarrod Longman attended.

Sonnier already has begun coastal erosion awareness work, in his own way. He said he currently closes all his concerts with the Randy Newman song “Louisiana 1927,” which speaks of river flooding and coastal erosion.

As Louisiana slips away, 1 isle digs in

2005-04-27T11:38:00.000-04:00

By Dahleen Glanton
Tribune national correspondent
Published April 25, 2005

ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, La. -- At the end of a two-lane road, surrounded by water and patches of grassy marsh, an old American Indian village dangles near the edge of the Earth.

All around it the land is sinking, pushing the tiny coastal community toward the Gulf of Mexico. Still, many of the 250 people who live here--all descendants of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians who settled the land in the 1800s--refuse to leave, despite an offer by the U.S. government to find them new homes.

"Everything here is just wasting away," said Michel Dardar, 76, a lifelong resident who, like most of his neighbors, is raising his house atop 13-foot stilts to keep floodwater out. "When I was growing up, everyone had a garden. We grew green beans, potatoes and watermelons. Now there is nothing. I don't even have a back yard anymore."

The huge loss of land in Isle de Jean Charles, about 70 miles southwest of New Orleans, is one of the most glaring examples of the coastal erosion occurring throughout southern Louisiana, home to 40 percent of the nation's wetlands. During the past 75 years, 1,900 square miles of marshland--about the size of Delaware--sank into the gulf. If nothing is done to stop it, scientists say, Louisiana could lose about 700 more square miles--a chunk the size of Chicago and Los Angeles combined--by 2050.

The problem is caused, in part, by the channeling of the Mississippi River approved in 1928, which deprived Louisiana of silt, mud and other sediment that naturally rejuvenated the marshland.

Now Louisiana officials are asking the federal government to help pay for a proposed $14 billion project to save the delta.

During the next 20 to 30 years, the project would have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers build a massive diversion system to channel water from the Mississippi River to the dying wetlands.

The corps also would rebuild beaches and restore the barrier islands, install erosion controls, plug basins and bayous to stop the flow of salt water into the marshes and plant new vegetation. The project, expected to go before Congress this session, would be the most ambitious civil-engineering effort ever undertaken in the United States, including the current restoration of the Florida Everglades.