This is Christian Marsh from above. The patterns of terracing are deliberately designed to be as close to natural formation as possible.

CRCL is looking for volunteers to plant more than 40,000 plants in Christian Marsh next week.  If you’ve ever wanted to be part of something BIG… this is your chance.  Check out what the Christian Marsh terracing project is all about, and how you can make it the next success story on our coastline!

Click for a map of all projects in the final draft of the 2012 Coastal Master Plan

With a unanimous vote of its members, the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana (CPRA) approved the final draft of the 2012 Coastal Master Plan at its March 21, 2012 meeting held at the Louisiana State Archives.  Click here to find out what’s changed in the final draft, which is now headed to the Louisiana Legislature.

The 2012 Coastal Master Plan will need the approval of the Louisiana Legislature in order to become CPRA’s official planning document for the future of restoration in Louisiana.  In today’s Coastal Master Plan 101 installment, we examine the road ahead for the Coastal Master Plan and what to expect when the document arrives at the Louisiana state capitol on March 26, 2012. 

The 2012 Coastal Master offers a blueprint that could result in a net land GAIN within the next 30 years. Graphic courtesy of 2012 Draft Coastal Master Plan.

The 2012 Coastal Master Plan offers a bold vision to turn the tide of coastal land loss in Louisiana.  What are the best parts of this blueprint for coastal restoration… and what should go back to the drawing board?  CRCL weighs in with its take on the Coastal Master Plan’s content in Part Three of Coastal Master Plan 101.

In part one of our special report “Coastal Master Plan 101,” we examined the process that created the draft which will soon be in the hands of the legislature.  Today, we will take a closer look at what’s in the plan and how it relates to the different areas of Louisiana’s coast.  Part Two – The Draft.

More than 250 residents turned out for the CPRA public meeting on the Master Plan in Houma

In the first installment of a four-part series, CRCL takes a closer look at the inner workings of the 2012 Coastal Master Plan for Louisiana.  In part one, find out how the plan came to be and the reasons why certain projects made the cut.  (more)

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) would like to thank board member Tricia Weeks for hosting a special fundraising reception for CRCL at her home in New Orleans in January.  More than 50 guests, including 30 non-CRCL members, attended to learn about CRCL’s mission of preserving and restoring the Louisiana coast.  Together, our guests also raised $10,000 for CRCL (more).

It sounds like a miniaturists’ dream, the lower Mississippi River shrunk to fit in a single room.  But it’s not the kind of model that’s meant for artistic purposes.  A planned replacement for the state of Louisiana’s current physical river model will provide valuable research and allow new scenarios to unfold right on the tabletop.  CRCL’s Morgan Crutcher has the story (more).

From January 23 to 25, 2012, the Coastal Protection and  Restoration Authority (CPRA) of Louisiana held a series of public meetings in New Orleans, Houma and Lake Charles to receive public feedback regarding the recently-released draft of the2012 Coastal Master Plan.  The public comment period, which continues until February 25, is an essential part of refining the Master Plan before it reaches the Louisiana Legislature for approval on March 26.  The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL) was present at all three public meetings and listened to hundreds of Louisiana residents express their concerns about the plan’s potential to address coastal land loss.  No two venues were the same, as citizens in the three meeting locales brought up topics unique to their coastal zones.  (More)

The release of the 2012 Coastal Master Plan by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana is a major milestone in the effort to protect and  restore our coastal wetlands.  While it is not the first long-range plan for addressing the issue of coastal land loss, it is the best strategic approach we have to date for guiding Louisiana through this very complicated process.  What does the new Master Plan mean for our state and what should we expect from it?  CRCL takes a closer look (here).