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NowThis Preview of Upcoming Feature on Mid-Barataria and Louisiana's Coast
Features Steve Cochran, EDF/MRD
Making Hot Sauce and Working to Save Wetlands | Louisiana News | US News
Features Erik Johnson, Audubon and mentions Rainey Conservation Alliance:
"The family also played a big part in creating the Rainey Conservation Alliance to foster larger wetland restoration and coastal protection projects across 187,000 acres (75,700 hectares) in St. Mary, Iberia and Vermilion parishes. Neighboring private landowners and the Audubon Society are the group's other members.
They have rounded up at least $80 million in grants — from $1.3 million in state surplus money for extending a shoreline protection project to $24.9 million for replacing more than 400 acres (162 hectares) of marsh killed by saltwater intrusion and restoring freshwater flow.
A demonstration project designed to protect 4,000 acres (1,600 hectares) created skinny terraced ridges 5 to 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 meters) high — up to double the standard height. Some were planted with trees, others prepared as rookeries for seabirds and wading birds.
When Hurricane Barry hit three months after the project's completion in 2019, the marsh behind the terraces was undamaged, according to a report commissioned by Audubon Louisiana, which owns some of the wetlands."
News
Clues to the past emerge in LSU researcher's work on ancient underwater forest in the gulf
At about 60 feet underwater, the global sea-level curves would date the site at about 10,000 to 12,000 years old. But after a team of scuba diving researchers went below to take core samples and even stumps buried in the mud, they realized the material was far older.
They couldn’t even radiocarbon-date the samples because that procedure can only measure up to 50,000 years. Scientists estimate the age of the forest is somewhere between 45,000 and 70,000 years old.
Louisiana coast still hurting from storms, bracing for more
Scores of people in coastal Louisiana are still living in campers on dirt mounds or next to cement slabs where their houses once stood. Unresolved insurance claims and a shortage of supply and labor are stymieing building efforts. And weather forecasters are warning of more possible devastation to come.
On the Louisiana Coast, an Indigenous Community Loses Homes to Erosion
Brunet, age 55, is a member of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, an Indigenous tribe that has lived on the island for more than two centuries. Since the 1950s the island has lost 98 percent of its land to subsidence and saltwater intrusion. Despite this loss and the dozens of hurricanes that have brought massive flooding throughout the decades, the tribe has always managed to rebuild and stay put.
Watch out nutria, it ain't over yet: Marsh Dog getting new life under Minnesota pet food maker
Marsh Dog, the company that turned wetland-destroying nutria into high-end dog biscuits, is being sold just a month after its closure to national pet food manufacturer Chasing Our Tails in Minnesota.
Chasing Our Tails expects to relaunch Marsh Dog’s line-up later this month and expand into pet food from other invasive species. The purchase price was not disclosed.