Bayou De Cade restoration work completes

NOAA’s Office of Habitat Conservation and its partners have restored 473 acres of marsh and 11,171 linear feet of ridge habitat in Bayou De Cade, Louisiana.

NOAA provided $14 million for the project through the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act Program. This effort is part of NOAA’s long-term commitment to combat land loss in this region. 

“Every acre of marsh we are able to restore means better protection across the state,” said Bren Haase, Deputy Executive Director for the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, a project partner.

“It’s critical for us to take on projects like this to not just restore what we’ve lost, but restore wetlands in ways that strengthen them and prevent future deterioration.”

To reclaim Bayou De Cade, partners pumped 2.4 million cubic yards of sediment from the bottom of nearby Lake De Cade into the bayou.

Temporary containment dikes prevented the sediment from washing away.

Work crews built up 5-foot-tall, 10-foot-wide ridge habitat along the bayou and planted it with wax myrtle and other shrub species.