St. Mary Parish
St. Mary Coastal Resilience Lab
ongoing
The Challenge
In partnership with St. Mary Parish and St. Mary Excel, the Water Institute is leading the development of a stakeholder-informed strategic plan for a coastal resilience lab focused on Atchafalaya River basin communities. In 2018, residents and decisionmakers in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana commissioned the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to identify strategies to enhance job creation and reduce population loss throughout the Parish. The ULI determined that the creation of a coastal resilience laboratory should be a key long-term goal of the region.
The Approach
Given St. Mary Parish’s rich history of technological innovation and its topographical characteristics, as well as the recent designation of a National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in the Atchafalaya River Basin, the Parish is an ideal location for collaborative research and resilience-focused pilot projects that could be hosted through a coastal resilience lab. The Water Institute is working directly with residents and local stakeholders to determine how the coastal resilience lab can best serve the communities of the lower Atchafalaya Basin.
This year-long planning effort, which began in August 2024, uses a Structured Decision Making framework to ensure that the priorities for the coastal resilience lab are defined by stakeholders from various sectors working in the Atchafalaya Basin at both the local and state levels.
KEY TEAM MEMBERS
Director of Research Operations/Director of RESTORE Act Center of Excellence for Louisiana
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