Lake Borgne Marsh Creation

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Lake Borgne Marsh Creation (LBMC) Project is a large-scale restoration strategy for the southern shoreline of Lake Borgne that will restore degraded intertidal marsh habitat through strategic placement of dredge material. The Project was initially conceived through multiple planning efforts including the State of Louisiana’s 2012 and 2017 Coastal Master Plans, the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet Ecosystem Restoration Feasibility Study, as well as the Final Restoration Plan the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) prepared by the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group. The project will create, nourish, and restore over 2,700 acres of marsh through the calculated placement of approximately 13 million cubic yards of dredge material all made possible via funding provided by the DWH Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) program.

The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) selected DDG to lead a multi-firm design team which submitted final documents to CPRA in Spring 2021. The general restoration strategy for the project is to minimize environmental construction impacts while restoring or nourishing the maximum acreage possible. The project area is comprised of low, deteriorating marsh on the west side with substantial canal erosion and open water along with areas of relatively robust marsh on the east side. Overall, the project area has a significant amount of open water area intermixed with existing marsh. The project was designed employing a regional approach to perimeter containment utilizing both earthen and non-earthen containment in conjunction with internal training dikes as needed to facilitate construction. The regional approach was selected to mitigate the need for the excavation of excess perimeter containment that would escalate construction costs and negatively impact the surrounding healthy marsh. The regional containment approach will allow for filling of all open water and nourishment of the existing marsh land, while minimizing the burden on the healthy existing marsh. 

Mike Hooks, LLC was awarded the project by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority on 5/25/2021.

As of April 2022, over 50,000 linear feet of earthen containment dikes (ECDs) have been constructed for three marsh creation areas (MCAs). ECD construction, as well as sheetpile installation for deeper waterways, is the first step during the construction process for the LBMC project. In mid-April, Mike Hooks’ dredge arrived in Lake Borgne in preparation for upcoming dredging and sediment pumping efforts. Dredging is scheduled to commence in late April to begin filling MCAs 3 and 4, while ECD construction continues in MCA2.