Old River Mitigation Bank (Prien Lake)
 

Hopefully this is not a re-post, but I first heard of this when I saw an add opposing this in my mailbox yesterday.

I'd love to hear some opinions on the potential impact of filling in this flat?

http://140.194.100.31/OPS/REGULATORY...0102966dwg.PDF

SWLA area needs more wetlands restoration projects like this.

Many people are fighting it....

On the surface, I agree with cmdrost. Based on the satellite photos, it seems like they are just restoring the area to it's original state which was marsh. The mail-out (opposition) makes it sound like the work of the devil. I'm sure the dollar signs are involved in some way, but I'm not sure how. I suspect that someone is going to lose a waterfront view, but that is only speculation.

That's it in a nutsack DrJay, doubt any of the homeowners have a contract that says waterfront property. They are fighting the Corps of Engineers so I would bet they will loose in the end.

Good....We need some weirs up north....Keep the bank burning down on the east bank

I do not know the particulars. I was ask to sign a letter that was against it. I used to fish back there a little.....

I wonder what happens to the guys who have yachts back there?

I would assume they have to leave an access canal for the homeowners.

bet if it was yalls waterfront that you paid for yall wouldn't be so excited about this.....i know i would be pissed after i built my house on the water and they gonna fill it in and all i would have is a canal

Is that the same homes that were built on top of the old city dump, before the EPA monitored dumps.

Not really....it is "dump" land anyway.

On paper this is an excellent project.

2 questions though

Are there houses there?

Who is paying for this?

I know a little about mitigation banks, this company is not funding this though i can guarantee that.

The link died on me,
I would like to know more about where it is and what they plan to do.
It sounds like the marsh West of the old dump area.
In general, I have seen several of the Corps "Marsh Restoration Projects".
They take existing marsh, levee it off and pump it full of dredge material.
I think that we need the existing shallow, marshy areas as a nursery for fish, shrimp, and crabs. What is left after the Corps is done is not good for anything except maybe wading birds. Check out the area North of Hog Island Gully or any of the spoil banks along the ship channel. Just my 2c. I don't know what the Corps is actually proposing but I know what they have done in the past.

Yes....it is the flats area south and west of the "dump". There are several houses that will be affected including those on the "dump" and those in the south portion of Geddings.

I do not know enough about the area or this project, but if you truly want to restore something the way it naturally was in the past, then weir(s) are not the way to go. I doubt Hernando de Soto or Columbus ran across many wiers on their voyage here:eek:

There is a video on KPLC, been up for a couple of days now.

Citgo needs to dredge out by their docks to allow ships in. This is where they want to dump dredge spoil. Citgo funding this project.

How is restoring any land bad in Louisiana?

When you take viable marsh land and turn it into a dry mud flat (land), that is bad.

I thought it was open water and they are going to build it up and plant grasses?

same type project they (Stream Property & PPG) did under 210 bridge

not familiar with it, good? bad? waste of money?

What I saw for the PPG 210 project was just levee off tidal marsh land and turn it in to a big non tidal contaminated mud flat. I did not see any dredge spoil pumped into the PPG project. A dredge spoil flat will not support much grass or vegetation in our life times. I agree, the ship channel needs to be dredged periodically and the spoil material needs to be disposed of. I know, let's levee off part of North Big Lake an fill it in. No, there were too many negative comments on that proposal. How about levee off 1/4 of Black lake and fill it in, Oh yea, that's already been done.
OK, I done ranting, sorry.

wrong on all accounts gottago:

By JOHN GUIDROZ / AMERICAN PRESS
Nearly 20 acres of open water next to the Interstate 210 bridge should be completely converted into wetlands within 18 months, according to officials with PPG Industries.
“There’s probably nowhere you can have more visibility of coastal restoration than exactly where this is occurring,” said Mike Huber, PPG environmental projects manager. “Everybody coming across the interstate can see it happening.”
The effort is the last phase in a $10.8-million project funded by PPG to remediate and reroute the more than 60-year-old water discharge canal at its local facility.
Stream Wetlands Services was hired by PPG to work on the project, which began last February. The Coastal Conservation Association assisted PPG and Stream in designing the project.
The discharge point was moved from Bayou D’Inde to the Calcasieu River by digging 4,500 feet of new canal.
About 80,000 cubic yards of dredged material from the rerouting phase was used to create the wetlands site. Huber said that about five acres of existing wetlands was destroyed during the rerouting.
In an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, PPG was required to restore at least eight acres of wetlands.
Dean Roberts, nursery manager for Stream Wetlands Services, said levees were placed along the perimeter of the area to contain the dredged material and control water levels.
He said that four different species of marsh grasses will be planted as a buffer that will “prevent wave action from deteriorating the levees.”
Once the grasses are removed from the nurseries, Roberts said, they must be planted within 48 hours to maintain their viability. Close to 30,000 plants should be planted by the end of this month, he said.
The four grasses include:
Roseau cane, which will serve as the first line of defense to prevent erosion along the containment levees.
Marsh hay cordgrass and joint grass, which will spread across the tops of the levees to protect them and provide benefits to marine wildlife.
Oyster grass, which will help solidify the dredged materials by tolerating salt from saline waters that come into the site.
Some of the grasses were grown for three to six months in greenhouses at the Gray Estate on Shell Beach Drive, Roberts said. The rest were cultivated at an off-site state nursery south of Carlyss.
David Richard, executive vice president of Stream Wetlands, said the effort is a “model project” that uses “methods that should be used on all dredged material in Louisiana.”
“There’s millions of cubic yards that are being dumped off (Outer) Continental Shelf that should be used beneficially,” he said.
Richard said the plants should be visible from the I-210 bridge as early as July.
He said that Stream officials will monitor the site for at least three years to meet corps specifications.

:eek: No!!! That is sediment that needs to go somewhere else to build more marsh, valuable marsh that we are losing every day. Southwest La may actually be gaining land, whereas SE is losing acres a day. Save the marsh!!!!!!!!!

I stand corrected Mr. Drost. That is the kind of projects that we need. Most of the ship channel dredging that I have seen are not restored like that. It didn't sound to me like the PPG site was used for ship channel dredge spoil only for dredge material from rerouting the plant discharge. Anyway, mitigation with vegetation is good. If that is the kind of project that is planned for Prien Lake that will be great.

It was marsh at one time. Now it is open shallow water.

Marsh needs to be fixed farther South to fix storm surge.
The more marsh you have down south, the more it will knock down the surge.
This is being done little by little, but mainly to help with erosion in the Miami marshs.

I understand these people are upset because of the construction, but this argument is pretty lame

Not familiar with this, but the Miami Corp probably has duck hunting leases in there?

Mr. Butter:

You may view these concerns as "lame", however currently over fifty residents, and I am one, deem these as viable concerns. You are welcome to attend the next neighborhood meeting so you may understand the issues, since you post from central Louisiana. I am not an environmental expert, just a concerned citizen. Myself and many others see this as a major problem. Anyone that views the propspectus proposed by the wetland service company will see the spin is really on the "enhancement" of the environment. I do know there are a number of fisherman that do fish eighteen inches of water in this area.... I see it everyday in the spring and summer.

Thanks!

That was in no way directed towards you and sorry if it seems that way. Was directing it at the letter itself. I do NOT live there and have only seen 2 sides of the story, the proposition and this letter. I said before that ON PAPER, the mitigation bank is a great idea. I am sure there are lots of politics involved because its the COE and it already seems to me that this Miami Corp is somehow going to benefit from this:grinpimp: The argument AGAINST this is kind of weak though. I hope that the citizens get together and that if it goes to a trial that the best outcome is reached. Maybe a different area would be better for this thing, I do not know. Just from my point of view, start digging a little harder, maybe look up some endangered species if you truly want leverage. Find some pictures or take some pictures of Least Terns or Piping Plovers foraging or loafing on these mudflats and there you go:) Endangered Species will win out. Bald Eagles are no longer endangered, just one of those warm and fuzzy creatures everyone loves. Good luck

Family friend lives in this area w/ lake front property....it really is a great setup (beautiful)....point built for sunsets....boathouse ........fishing, birdwatching, etc.....I can understand completely why this is being opposed! Could you imagine if your back yard/lake where to be filled in. Think about it... you've worked your arse off for a piece of waterfront property to call home and retire...live there for 15 years and a proposition to fill in your dream surfaces? I think they can find another piece of waterfront to fill in with more use than partially restoring a marsh thats still a marsh....Think about it

It was done by Ducks Unlimited.

30 acres of useless marsh behind my house would be a great dump place, nothin but a skeeter infested hole but i would feal diff if it was my front yard

Surely your not talking about the Burns...

no not the burns, I live by a small marsh trap by houses that use to drain to Indian Bayou, looks like that nasty so called pond in SH park

Ahh got a bud that lives on Indian By...The burns are my back yard

Totally agree Big Kahunaz!! You would think that the wetland service company, with as many other acres as they own, could find another place take dump spoils. It is hard for me to understand how the destruction of 230 acres of open water in Lake Charles will enhance the environment. Where are the local government officials in this? Also, this appears to me to completely alter fish habitat. There is a shad and shrimp nursery in this area that will be devasted.

I would think that if the Streams really wanted do do some good, they would do it on their own land. My mother and my brother both have houses out there. I take my granddaughter fishing out there. I think they need to fill in some of the Greywood open water but they probably don't want to mess up their waterfront lots when it is developed out to the waters edge.:eek: Everyone involved on the other side has enough money to make these 50 or so homeowners look like trailer trash. (No offence to the people on this site that live in Mobile Homes.)

I sure will miss that 800" of water front.:cry:

It IS their own land!!

You must not know a lot about marsh eco systems. It will enhance shrimp nursery, not devastate it.

FOR THE RECORD - I am neutral on the issue. I don't care either which way. Just pointing out facts about the project.

I wonder exactly where they are drawing the line because my mom and brother own a lot of the bottoms between Fernwood and the Gettings Estate all the way to the South bank. The bay behind St Charles subdivision.

Sent from my EVO

Any updates on this?
 

Trying to bump this topic back up. Anyone know if this is still in the works?

Too bad! "Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". Any project putting marsh back to what it was 50+ years ago is the only things that should be done. Period. But it should be the oil companies paying for it. not tax payers! But if it affected the homeowners property values they should be compensated as well.


edit: Sorry just realized how old this thread was.

Thanks for bumping this topic, I fish that area quite often, this would definitely hurt the area in my eyes. Looking forward to hearing any news on the topic.

The way I see it, its a good thing. Those people that were complaining about that project built there homes on an old landfill. And youre going to complain about something beneficial to the lake system? Hmmm.

That being said, I don't think this project ever got off the ground. I know someone at Stream, and we talked about it about a year or 2 ago.

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