Year: 2022
Project(s):
Relevance
Hydrologic barriers to the natural flow of coastal waters has adversely impacted coastal fisheries and communities throughout the Gulf of Mexico. With advanced technology and new approaches the natural flow of coastal areas can be restored and enhance the ecosystem.
Response
The four Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant college programs collaborated with the NOAA Restoration Center on a community-based restoration program, which concluded in 2014. Part of this project included Sea Grant extension professionals working with local communities and restoration experts to identify hydrological restoration sites throughout the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf programs developed an inventory of the sites and shared it broadly. The results of the project, including the inventory, are located here: http://masgc.org/hydrorestoration.
Results
Resource managers used the inventory to identify and fund restoration using RESTORE funding. Approximately $2.17M was initially allocated to NOAA to plan restoration of three inventory projects. Since then one project, Robinson Preserve, was funded and completed, which restored 118 acres. Now, because of the inventory two hydrological restoration projects have been identified for funding totaling almost $131M and will reduce the loss or restore more than 45,000 acres in Texas and Louisiana.
Recap
The network of Sea Grant extension professionals in the Gulf of Mexico was able to build an inventory of sites that required hydrologic restoration and was used by the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council to identify, prioritize and select for funding two new projects during this reporting period ($1M restoration project in Texas restoring 600 acres of aquatic habitat and $130M restoration project in Louisiana to enhance or reduce future loss of 45,000 acres). (2022)