NEW ORLEANS, La. (Nov 18, 2019) – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced this morning that the Institute was one of several recipients of funding from the National Coastal Resilience Fund.
The $500,000 grant to the Institute will be leveraged with private funding from Chevron, Shell, Danos as well as the Greater Lafourche Port Commission to move forward with the Partnership for Our Working Coast initiative.
“Through this innovative partnership of public, private and nonprofit organizations, we are working towards not only protecting vital infrastructure in Port Fourchon using nature-based solutions, but also towards providing additional habitat and community benefits,” said Justin Ehrenwerth, Institute president and CEO. “We’re honored to receive this support from NFWF and NOAA and grateful to our partners at Chevron, Shell, Danos and the port who share a common vision for using the best available science to build a more resilient working coast.”
Future Port Fourchon improvements will result in millions of cubic yards of dredged materials that should be put to beneficial use. The Partnership for Our Working Coast was formed in order to use best available science to design where that material could be placed for the maximum benefit. The project will take one of Louisiana’s most valuable coastal restoration resources – sediment – and use science and community input to determine where it can best be used to provide infrastructure protection, ecosystem habitat and community benefits.
The funding announced today (Nov. 18) will go towards the next phase of the ongoing project and will include participatory modeling where stakeholders work with computer modelers to merge science and local knowledge, data collection, evaluation of Blue Carbon (carbon sequestration) potential through inclusion of expanding mangrove vegetation, and producing a preliminary project design in coordination with Port Fourchon’s project timeline.
For more information about the announcement and grant award today, please visit NFWF for press release and here for full list of grantees.
About The Water Institute of the Gulf
The Water Institute is an independent, non-profit, applied research institution that works across disciplines to advance science and develop integrated methods used to solve complex environmental and societal challenges. The Institute helps coastal and deltaic communities thoughtfully prepare for an uncertain future. For more information, visit www.thewaterinstitute.org.