Accommodating Environmental Constraints - Modification of a Navigational Project in Coastal Louisiana,

Abstract

The Atchafalaya River and Bayous Chene, Boeuf, and Black, Louisiana, Project was completed in 1981. It established a -6 m NGVD, 122-m-wide, 85-m-long navigational channel by the hydraulic dredging of approximately 40 million cu m of material. Project completion was the culmination of extensive interagency and interdisciplinary coordination in response to several environmental constraints. As originally designed, the project would have adversely impacted three active southern bald eagle nests, approximately 2,800 ha of wetlands, and a newly developing river delta. In order to allow project completion, the project had to be modified. The following steps were taken to reduce or eliminate adverse environmental impacts: (a) creation of approximately 200 ha of marsh through the semiconfined disposal of dredged material in a freshwater lake; (b) preservation of approximately 1,120 ha of wetlands as a result of the modification of construction and disposal plans; (c) establishment of a No-Work Area of 2.4 km from any active bald eagle nest during the nesting season of 15 October to 30 April; (d) prevention of disposal area development if such development might adversely affect the unconfined disposal within a rapidly growing river delta.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 1987
Accession Number
ADP005483

Entities

People

  • David F. Carney
  • Robert L. Gunn

Organizations

  • New Orleans District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Birds
  • Construction
  • Continents
  • Dredging
  • Environment
  • Geographic Regions
  • Louisiana
  • Materials
  • Netherlands
  • North America
  • South Carolina
  • United States

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Riverine Ecology
  • Systems Analysis and Design
  • Wetland-Land-Environmental Management.