For over two decades the Coalition has worked to restore and protect coastal Louisiana. As the needs and dynamics of the coast have shifted so have the Coalition's objectives. But throughout the established and formidable history of the Coalition, our commitment to the sustainability of coastal Louisiana has never wavered.
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The idea for the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana began in 1985 when a handful of far-sighted scientists, activists and policy advisors recognized that Louisiana’s coast was the most important coastal area in the country and called for the creation of an organization to protect and restore these vanishing wetlands.
Officially incorporated in 1988 the Coalition continues to represent the participation of many different interests from among businesses, local governments, scientists and concerned citizens from the conservation and religious communities. Soon after the Coalition was incorporated, the organization published Coastal Louisiana: Here Today and Gone Tomorrow? A Citizens Program for Saving the Mississippi River Delta Region to Protect its Heritage, Economy and Environment. This was the first major publication to call Louisiana’s wetlands a “national treasure.” The document was singularly responsible for shifting the focus from documenting wetland loss to proposing a plan of action for restoration.
In Here Today and Gone Tomorrow, the Coalition called for several visionary actions:
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The creation of a state office of Coastal Restoration with direct ties to the governor.
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A revolutionary change in the way the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operated to include coastal restoration.
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A ban on new dredging and the proposed use of non destructive technology and equipment in oil and gas exploration.
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A new trust fund to finance projects such as sediment diversions, canal backfilling and barrier island rebuilding.
The Coalition’s ambitious vision was matched only by the unique view that ordinary citizens, united by the Coalition could achieve these lofty goals.
The Coalition's first major initiative was to seek and secure a commitment from the State of Louisiana to make coastal restoration a top priority. In 1989 Louisiana voters approved Act 6 charging the state with conserving, restoring, creating and enhancing vegetated wetlands in coastal Louisiana. Act 6 also created the Governor’s Office of Coastal Activities and the State Wetlands Trust Fund, simultaneously realizing 2 of the Coalitions objectives outlined in Here Today and Gone Tomorrow.
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Having secured a state commitment to the conservation and restoration of Louisiana's coastal wetlands, the Coalition focused its attention on securing a substantial federal commitment to coastal preservation and restoration. The Coalition developed a national “Save the Wetlands” strategy to urge the passage of national legislation that would commit federal funding and assistance to comprehensive coastal restoration.
As a direct result of the Coalition’s effort, Congress passed the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) in 1990. Also known as the Breaux Act, this legislation acknowledged the productive capabilities and protective value of coastal wetlands and provided for the expenditure of significant federal funds on a joint state and federal protection and restoration program.
Since that time, the Coalition has played a major role in the selection of restoration projects under CWPPRA and continued to work on eliminating the barriers to project construction, building broader constituencies, pushing for a broader coastal stewardship strategy and expanding the commitment of all stakeholders in pursuit of a sustainable, healthy coast.
Approved in 1991and completed in 1994, the Bayou LaBranche Wetland Creation project was the first completed CWPPRA restoration project in the state. Several years later, the Coalition would produce an award winning documentary called Bayou of the Lost: The Legacy of the LaBranche Wetlands.
1995 was an eventful year for the Coalition. The Coalition sponsored Coastal Summit 95 and worked to move restoration projects into action by fostering cooperation among state agencies and the public. The Coalition published the CoastWatchers Guide that same year and produced a series of public service announcements, CoastalMinute, to raise public awareness about land loss and restoration. As 1995 concluded as the Coalition began a successful statewide effort to amend the constitution allowing the state to sever mineral rights from surface rights to facilitate the implementation of coastal restoration projects.
The first Coastal Stewardship Awards were presented by the Coalition in 1996. At that first Coalition banquet Governor Mike Foster announced his commitment to add state general funds, for the first time, to the coastal restoration trust fund to match all available federal funds.
In 1997 the Coalition sponsored the first ever Environmental Technology and Business Exposition and also helped create a national network of eleven regional groups called Restore America’s Estuaries to advocate for national wetlands recognition with a goal of restoring one million acres of estuarine habitat, half of which will be in Louisiana, by the year 2010.
Also in 1997, the Coalition recognized that the most optimistic estimates of the CWPPRA program would only reduce coastal land loss by less than 20%, and consequently became a vocal advocate for a comprehensive plan to guide and expand future restoration activities. At the urging of the Coalition and other stakeholder groups, the state began the process of developing a strategic plan that would establish a blueprint for comprehensive coastal restoration.
Quoting directly from the Coast 2050 report “For the first time, as explicitly called for by the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana in 1997, diverse groups have come together to develop one shared vision for the coast expressed in this overarching goal: to sustain a coastal ecosystem that supports and protects the environment, economy and culture of southern Louisiana, and that contributes greatly to the economy and well-being of the nation.
Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable Coast was adopted in 1998 by the State of Louisiana and its federal partners and continues to serve as a blueprint for current comprehensive planning efforts. Coast 2050 was a bold endeavor that ultimately set the standard for how a comprehensive coastal plan should be developed. By implementing regional ecosystem strategies, 2050 envisioned that a sustainable ecosystem could be restored in coastal Louisiana, in large part by utilizing the same natural forces that initially built the landscape.
Shortly after the completion of Coast 2050 the Coalition recognized that the 2050 strategy was a good blueprint for restoring the coast, but it required structure and action. In 1999 The Coalition published “No Time to Lose” in an effort to spur action and implementation.
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In 2002 Governor Mike Foster recognized the value of the Coalition’s contributions to coastal restoration, appointing Executive Director Mark Davis and 4 members of the Coalition Board of Directors to the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Coastal Activities.
By 2004, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, working with federal agencies and the State of Louisiana, was prepared to submit the Louisiana Coastal Area Comprehensive Coastwide Ecosystem Restoration Study (LCA) for Congressional authorization. The Corps received direction from the President’s FY2005 Budget Guidance to scale back the study to include only near term priority projects. Before Congress could even consider the LCA, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita irrevocably altered the course of coastal restoration efforts, exposing the vulnerability of coastal communities ravaged by decades of wetland loss and inaction.
Soon both the state and the nation came to finally comprehend what the Coalition had been passionately advocating for over the previous two decades. Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, starved of sediment, exploited for its resources and sacrificed for economic gain, were unable to continue protecting the very communities that had grown to depend on them. In the aftermath, the Coalition began vigorously working to ensure that coastal restoration and protection would be inexorably linked. The Coalition supported the formulation of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, to coordinate coastal restoration with hurricane protection efforts and increased pressure on Congress to close the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO.)
2006 came with a major step toward securing at least a share of the necessary funding for restoring and protecting the coast. With the hard work and full support of the Coalition, the state reached a royalty sharing agreement with the federal government to allocate a portion of outer continental shelf oil royalties to the state for restoration and protection activities.
In 2007, the Corps of Engineers has submitted a final report detailing the deauthorization and restoration of the MRGO and will soon release yet another plan (LaCPR) to provide comprehensive protection and restoration for coastal Louisiana.
In 2008 the Coalition, partnering with the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, will continue to advocate for the implementation of the Multiple Lines of Defense Strategy (MLODS). MLODS is a strategy that works on the well-founded premise that coastal Louisiana must be protected from hurricane surge by both man-made features, such as levees, and by the natural coastal wetland buffer along the Louisiana coast. Levees alone will not work. Together, a healthy coastal estuary and appropriately designed levees system can sustain Louisiana’s ecology and economy of the coast.
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