My last week at NFWF was definitely one of the most exciting. I was able to travel to Plaquemines Parish and go to the Expert Panel on Diversion Planning and Implementation meeting. The group of people that serve on the panel are all from out of state, and they give their input to all of the updates and work occuring on the current river diversion projects. People from The Nature Conservancy, CPRA, engineering companies, and economists all gave speeches about the current status of the diversions. A lot of the work that is occuring now has to do with models and collecting data from CRMS sites (shoutout to Peter). One of the most interesting parts of this meeting was the public comments that took place at the end. These meetings are open to the public and, if you wish to speak to the panel, you have about two minutes to do so. In these two minute speeches I got a really good idea about how some fishermen and oyster harvesters feel about the diversions. One person claimed that "we just don't have enough science to prove that these things will actually work" (at which point all the scientists in the room shook their heads). Another man who makes his living off from harvesting oysters felt that diversions are important and we need them, but we "don't have the right kind of policy and decision-makers in Louisiana to go through with it." It was interesting to see how strongly some people felt and how hard it is to truly make everyone happy.
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| Diversion meeting agenda |
On Thursday, we got to go down to the Caminada Headland to see the dune restoration that is occuring there. Very fine sand is being dredged from Ship Shoal, which is a sunken island offshore, and it is being put back on Caminada. This is going to help with shoreline erosion and it will also distribute sand to adjacent areas like Grand Isle. As the sand erodes from Caminda, it gets deposited to these surrounding areas. The goal is to dredge 3.3 million cubic yards of sand onto this 14 mile long headland.
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| Here's an active pipe that's currently pumping out sand onto the beach |
After the sand is deposited in one area, it is flattened out and distributed with bulldozers, and then the pipes are moved down the headland to restore the next patch of degraded beach. Sand fences are put in place to catch sand from wind erosion and build up tall dunes on either side of the fence. The beaches are made up of a lot of shells which are left behind as the wind creates tall dunes along the fences.
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| What fencing looks like after a year. All of the sand around the fence is built up, and shells are left behind |
These shell habitats are perfect for nesting areas for birds like Least terns and Piping plovers. However, during construction and dredging, they have to prevent the birds from establishing nests, so that they don't harm the eggs. To do this, they disturb the sand by creating a wavy pattern in it (there's a more technical term for this, but I forgot what it's called...) The birds prefer a flat area, so they can watch for predators, so they won't establish a nest on a wave-like landscape. Our guide, Mike, said that we are coming to an end on the nesting season, so bird abatement won't be as much of a problem for the next few months.
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| the waves in the sand prevent birds from nesting here |
While we were out there I saw lots of different terns, shorebirds, and a bunch of pelicans and sea gulls! This was definitely an awesome way to spend my last day, and I had so much fun. I've learned so much these past eight weeks from hanging out with Jon and Tanner, and I can't believe how fast this internship flew by. I'm sad to see it come to an end, but I've absolutely loved interning for NFWF. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity!
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