Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion on hold indefinitely, putting larger restoration efforts at risk

The Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion is arguably the largest single habitat restoration project in American history.

Designed to reconnect the Mississippi River to collapsing coastal wetlands of its delta southwest of New Orleans, when complete it would move up to 75,000 cubic feet per second of sediment-heavy river water, mimicking the natural land-building processes that constructed South Louisiana. Extensive and exhaustive modeling has shown it rebuilding more than 20 square miles of marsh over 50 years, and enhancing and sustaining tens of thousands of additional acres in an area experiencing the highest rates of land loss in the world.

The diversion has been the cornerstone restoration effort of Louisiana’s often-lauded coastal restoration and protection master plans dating back nearly 20 years. Slated for funding from more than $3 billion in penalties from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster for construction and mitigation, the water and sediment would address damage from the spill and nearly a century of wetland loss caused by levees that have hemmed in the river. Construction had been underway for two years – until the Army Corps of Engineers, at the request of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, suspended the permit in late April.

Project Now on Hold Indefinitely

In a letter to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration April 25, the Corps cited several reasons for pulling the permit, including CPRA not fully sharing with the Corps an engineering report that showed the potential need for maintenance dredging at the diversion’s intake structure as well as persistent and intentional construction delays over the last year-plus.

It’s no secret among lawmakers, coastal restoration advocates, and Louisiana residents the current governor’s administration has never been fond of the project, generally siding with commercial fishermen and local politicians who have long claimed the project will permanently destroy shrimping, crabbing, and oyster harvest in the Barataria Basin. Concerns over project cost and long-term maintenance have been discussed by this administration much more than the forecasted benefits of the diversion.

The current administration also is blaming the previous one for the delays and the permit withdrawal. The past administration says those are baseless, untrue claims.

Larger Diversions the Best Means to Rebuild Habitat

The TRCP and its sportfishing, hunting, and habitat conservation partners like Ducks Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy have long been champions for the Mid-Barataria Diversion. The profound wetland loss in the Barataria Basin has been limiting fisheries production and erasing vital waterfowl habitat for more than 50 years, punctuated by more than 200 square miles of lost marshes caused by Hurricanes Katrina in 2005 and Ida in 2021 combined.

Certainly, the re-introduction of sediment-laden freshwater into the degraded basin was going to displace some aquatic species, especially oysters and brown shrimp, which are now inhabiting open water areas that were brackish marsh less than 50 years ago.

However, the diversion project was also projected to rebuild, restore, and enhance tens of thousands of acres of wetlands, improving habitat and production for redfish, crabs, white shrimp, menhaden, and a host of other fish species, as well as ducks and other migratory and native birds. It also was going to provide protection to communities south and west of New Orleans that have become increasingly vulnerable to coastal flooding as marshes have retreated. The lasting benefits have always outweighed the short-term negative impacts. The project wouldn’t have been approved otherwise.   

“Habitat lost over the last century by disconnecting the Mississippi River from its deltaic marshes is, undeniably, the primary culprit for lost productivity.”

The virtues of diversions, especially Mid-Barataria, have been detailed in TRCP blogs many times over the last decade. I have also written about how the politics of river diversions don’t change the ecological realities of why they are so desperately needed. Redfish populations in Louisiana are declining, leading to a reduction in recreational creel limits less than a year ago. Mottled ducks, one of the few non-migratory ducks inhabiting the Gulf Coast, have seen their numbers diminish by more than half in the last 70 years. Louisiana duck hunters have seen fewer and fewer teal, gadwall, and pintails year after year.

The habitat lost over the last century by disconnecting the Mississippi River from its deltaic marshes is, undeniably, the primary culprit for this lost productivity.

Alternative Project Proposals Insufficient

CPRA officials insist there are projects in the works that can be built faster and cheaper than Mid-Barataria, but have given limited public details about using dredges to move sediment to build marshes and coastal ridges and the potential for a smaller diversion – or projections of the measurable benefits of these projects.

Certainly, dredge-and-place marsh creation and barrier island restoration projects play an important role, and any size diversion from the river into the basin will help restore habitat, improve the food chain, and build land. However, there are valid, unanswered questions and concerns about how quickly construction on these potential “replacement” projects can start and if the same oil spill penalties can be applied. It’s also possible, maybe likely, a smaller diversion will have to be completely redesigned and modeled, which could take five years or more, and this sort of project may be as expensive or more expensive than the already permitted Mid-Barataria.  

“There is no project instead of a diversion that delivers the resources the Mississippi River provides.”

If the goal is to maximize every available resource to stave off the continued marsh loss in the Barataria Basin that threatens communities and fish and wildlife production, diversions must be used. There is no project that can be built instead of a diversion that delivers the resources the Mississippi River provides.

While new wetlands are naturally building east of the Mississippi River at the mouth of the recently formed Neptune Pass, many detractors continue to claim projects like the Mid-Barataria Diversion are just expensive experiments that won’t build similar deltas, despite them being designed to mimic exactly what’s happening in areas where the river is free to deposit sediment.  

Science, Not Politics, Must Drive Decisions

I’ve spent more than 40 years fishing in the Barataria Basin. For the first 20, it’s hard now to describe the remarkable fisheries productivity and the expanses of coastal marshes I experienced. Mornings catching 100-plus speckled trout and dozens of redfish were common. But those days are rare now.  

As we approach the 20^th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and Rita’s devastating 2005 landfalls, it’s painfully obvious those storms pushed the Barataria Basin’s marshes to the brink of collapse. It’s only gotten worse since.

Louisiana responded to those catastrophic storms by creating a coastal planning effort that set aside politics and focused on science and sound engineering. Coastal master plans have focused on ensuring levees, marsh and barrier island restoration, and diversions all work together.  

For the sake of Louisiana’s rich hunting and fishing culture and its coastal communities facing the threats of continued land loss, here’s hoping my state finds its way back to that path very, very soon.

Banner image of tailing redfish courtesy of Pat Ford Photography