Where stands of bald cypress once gave definition to swamps of the lower Mississippi Delta, officials from Terrebonne Parish, America’s WETLAND Foundation, Resource Environmental Solutions and BHP will announce the kick off of two Terrebonne Parish wetland restoration projects.
The Terrebonne Biodiversity and Resiliency Projects (The Projects) employ cypress swamp plantings and marsh terrace creation – both proven ecological restoration approaches that improve the quality of lands and waters that support human, animal, and marine populations. These transitional projects are the first in a series of private sector partnership projects designed to maintain and enhance the values of the ecosystem as larger scale public projects in the state’s coastal master plan come online over time.
Both projects will serve to fortify levees built with community financing to protect populations from flooding leading to relocation. They will add critical restoration and resiliency components vital to strengthening the hurricane protection. The projects also include constructed permanent levees and terraces providing new habitat for waterfowl, alligators, and several commercially important marine species, such as white and brown shrimp, red drum, blue crabs, and a host of other wetland-dependent wildlife and fish species.
Once completed, The Projects will restore 50.58 hectares (125 acres) of wetlands, by planting more than 35,000 bald cypress trees and 35,000 plugs of coastal marsh grass with an estimated economic value of $1.2 Million per year, 280 tons of CO2 sequestered per year, and the elimination of up to 265 pounds of phosphorus and 10,600 pounds of nitrogen each year to improve water quality in those areas.
