Progress 11/01/05 to 10/31/08
Outputs During this project, the Environmental Assessment for the Buffalo Cove Management Unit was managed as a feature of the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System Project (ABFS). This process included, but was not limited to, coordination and guidance in the selection of water management elements, and development of selected elements that are and will be constructed to improve water quality and habitat conditions in the Buffalo Cove area. The Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI), signed in May 2005, fulfilled the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) requirements, allowing further planning and construction to take place. In conjunction with development of project documents, the non-standard Project Cooperation Agreement (PCA) for the project (after resolution of many controversial issues dealing with land ownership, funding for the project, legal issues, and incorporation of concerns by commercial fishers and the Sierra Club) was finally executed in June 2005. This is
the legal document signed by the State of Louisiana creating a partnership for operation and maintenance of the completed project into perpetuity. This is the legal document that laid out in detail the roles and responsibilities of both the Corps and non-Federal Sponsor. Because of the importance of this project to Louisiana and the Basin as a whole, the Federal Government will provide 100% of the costs for construction, with the Local Sponsor providing 25% of Operation and Maintenance costs. The environmental benefits of this Buffalo Cove Management Unit project will include spatial and temporal reductions or elimination of hypoxic water conditions that currently affect aquatic biota, improvement in interior circulation, and introduction of highly oxygenated water into the unit with limited amounts of sediment. This is a pilot project in all aspects, and the lessons learned during this project will be transferred to the management of the total Buffalo Cove Unit, as well as other
units within the Atchafalaya Basin destined for construction. Opposition to the Buffalo Cove project led to a lawsuit filed in 3rd U.S. District Court, Lafayette, LA. Working extensively with the Corps Office of Counsel, data sufficient for the Court to dismiss the case was provided. An appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has been denied, and although progress in Buffalo Cove was interrupted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, a Task Order was issued for beginning the construction of Phase I in Buffalo Cove. Construction was anticipated to begin in early February 2006, but was delayed because of several issues, and is scheduled to begin in early 2007. This project is one of the few large-scale ecosystem restoration projects ever initiated by the Corps. It has required a close working relationship with the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, the Corps, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the development of a cooperative effort to
implement water management projects that will rehabilitate the ecology, biological productivity, and cultural and socioeconomic the Basin for the citizens of the state.
Impacts Aside from its value as one of the few functioning river swamp ecosystems in North America, the Atchafalaya River Basin has historically been a large part of the culture and heritage of the people of Louisiana. The Basin has suffered significant impacts to its hydrology and ecology, which significantly threaten its commercial and recreational value. Completion of this project, in spite of substantial legal, logistical, political, economic, and scientific obstacles, will have a huge impact on our ability to develop and implement effective ecosystem restoration projects in the future. Rehabilitation of the Atchafalaya Basin will have profound cultural, recreational, ecological, and socioeconomic effects for the state of Louisiana. Efforts by LSU AgCenter personnel have made significant contributions to the success of this project, and the development of stakeholder cooperation and the incorporation of well-founded science should provide long-term benefits for the Basin
ecosystem and its stakeholder groups.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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