Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana

            The Chenier Plain encompasses six basins and extends from Vermilion Bay, Louisiana west to East Bay, Texas.  The Chenier Plain was built during the last 4,000 years by sediments discharged from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico that were then reworked by Gulf Coast wave action and deposited on the gulf shoreline.  Extensive low lying mudflats were thereby formed in along the shoreline toward the Gulf of Mexico. This building occurred when the Mississippi River was building delta lobes in central Louisiana.  This building was reversed when the Mississippi River shifted and began building delta lobes in eastern Louisiana.  At those times, the gulf shoreline of the Chenier Plain eroded, which reworked shell materials to form a chenier or natural elevated ridge parallel to the shoreline.  The combination of long linear ridges and adjacent extensive marsh provide ideal habitat for many species of birds, including waterfowl and migrating songbirds.  

            The Chenier Plain wetlands naturally functions very differently than the coastal wetlands found in southeast Louisiana.  The Deltaic plain functions with a significant estuarine gradient.  In contrast, the Chenier Plain is dominated by processes constantly shifting sediment parallel to the shore and limiting the interaction of the gulf with the interior marshes.  Human alterations to the landscape have drastically changed this natural process.  As we look to restore this landscape, we must fully understand this complex system that is constantly being changed and manipulated by people, intentionally and otherwise.  The purposes of this meeting are to review what is known about the Chenier Plain, to report on recent and ongoing research, and to identify information gaps that complicate decision making by land managers, water managers, and policy makers.