Number: 2003-01
WHEREAS, the Louisiana coast comprises the largest expanse of coastal wetlands in North America; and
WHEREAS, these wetlands, together with Louisiana’s bays and barrier islands, constitute an enormously productive ecosystem that provides wintering habitat for more than 70 percent of the migrating waterfowl using the Central and Mississippi Flyways and nurseries for marine life that support a commercial harvest of nearly 30 percent (by weight) of the nation’s seafood production; and
WHEREAS, by breaking storm surges from the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and barrier islands protect 2 million South Louisiana residents from tidal flooding caused by hurricanes and tropical storms; and
WHEREAS, 18 percent of U.S. oil production and 24 percent of U.S. gas production, which together provide almost 90,000 jobs and have a combined economic value of $17 billion per year, come from coastal Louisiana and the adjacent Gulf of Mexico; and
WHEREAS, since 1930, Louisiana has lost more than 1,500 square miles of coastal marsh to erosion and continues to lose 25 to 30 square miles per year; and
WHEREAS, this alarming loss of a precious wetland resource derives in large part from human intervention in the natural processes that sustain and replenish coastal marshes and swamps, including the construction of levees for flood control that prevent fresh water and sediment from reaching the marshes, and the dredging of navigation channels that alter hydrology and convey salt water into freshwater areas, killing wetland vegetation; and
WHEREAS, if more aggressive and comprehensive action to halt the erosion is not taken soon, another 1,000 square miles of marsh and swamp will be lost by the year 2050, putting over $100 billion in infrastructure and resources at risk; and
WHEREAS, Coast 2050, a joint effort of the citizens of Louisiana, eleven federal and state resource agencies and the Office of the Governor of Louisiana, has produced a conceptual framework for restoring Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and barrier islands to a state of sustainable, productive health using a combination of strategies such as river diversions and other methods of restoring natural hydrology, retrofitting infrastructure, restoration of barrier islands, sediment management to encourage marsh building, and wetland conservation and management; and
WHEREAS, the estimated $14 billion cost of this restoration effort over the next several decades, though expensive, is far less than the value of what will be lost in natural resources, infrastructure, and jobs if the erosion continues unabated; and
WHEREAS, the restoration of coastal Louisiana represents an opportunity for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to demonstrate its capacity to restore natural ecosystems, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation, at its annual meeting assembled March 27-29, 2003, in Washington, D.C., urges Congress and the Administration, in partnership with the state of Louisiana, to commit the funds and technical resources necessary to restore the Louisiana coast in a manner consistent with the goals and strategies of Coast 2050.