Assisted Resettlement and Community Viability on Louisiana's Gulf Coast Proceedings of a Workshop (2023) / Chapter Skim
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2 Community Perspectives on Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities for Coastal Louisiana
2 Community Perspectives on Issues, Challenges, and Opportunities for Coastal Louisiana
Pages 5-20
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From page 5... ...
Jay Clune, the President of Nicholls State University, highlighted that Nicholls is only 24 miles from the coast, but when it was founded in 1948, it was 50 miles from the coast. Clune has seen land loss firsthand and emphasized that it was "forcing a managed retreat" from the coastlines and the lower part of the parishes.
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From page 6... ...
She concluded by saying that hearing workshop participants' lived experience, expertise, voices, and stories is critical to informing the national dialogue on what is needed to help communities transition and will help inform Gulf Research Program activities. COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES FROM LOUISIANA'S BAYOU REGION The facilitator Alessandra Jerolleman, a Community Resilience Specialist and Applied Researcher from the Lowlander Center, opened the panel by asking everyone to keep in mind that coastal Louisiana is a place with history, people, and culture.
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From page 7... ...
John Doucet, Dean of Sciences and Technology, Nicholls State University Doucet talked about the history of Bayou Lafourche in southeastern Louisiana in the context of community retreat. In the later part of the 1700s, mass settlements established the population and culture of Bayou Lafourche.
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From page 8... ...
He discussed how, ironically, Hurricane Ida destroyed the Historical Center's roof and many of those artifacts. Doucet concluded by sharing that Nicholls -- where 87 percent of students, faculty, and staff call a coastal parish their home -- is building a coastal center9 that will focus not only on community preserving solutions such as levees and water systems mitigation of coastal land loss, but also on preserving culture.
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From page 9... ...
, 36–47. 12 More information about the Chauvin Sculpture Garden is available at: https://www. nicholls.edu/center-bayou-studies/chauvin-sculpture-garden/ 13 More information about the Cajun Music Preservation Society is available at: https:// bayouarts.org/portfolio_page/cajun-music-preservation-society/
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From page 10... ...
Windell Curole, General Manager, South Lafourche Levee District An event that shaped Curole's life was a 1973 meeting with a geologist who explained how the geology -- and specifically the delta -- in coastal Louisiana differs entirely from anywhere else in the United States. The Mississippi River's basin drains water from 41 percent of the contiguous 14 The Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico project will include levees, floodgates, and water control structures in parts of Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes that "aims to protect people and property as well as the remaining fragile marsh from hurricane storm surge." More information is available at: https://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/About/ Projects/Morganza-to-the-Gulf/ 15 The State of Louisiana received 92.6 million dollars, 48.3 million dollars of which was allocated to the Isle de Jean Charles resettlement.
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From page 11... ...
FIGURE 2-1 A photo of "Island Road," a low-lying causeway across open water that connects Isle de Jean Charles to inland communities and is subject to periodic flooding. SOURCE: Betts, G
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From page 12... ...
519, Chapter 84) allowed Louisiana to work to "reclaim the Swamp Lands" by controlling the Mississippi River using levees and ditches for flood protection and naviga tion.
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From page 13... ...
Cooper said this was not the first time the area was not included in the distribution of flood protection funding. For example, the 14.45 billion dollar Hurricane and Storm Risk Reduction System19 that was built following Hurricane Katrina included 1.1 billion dollars to build the largest pump station in the world.20 Its purpose was to reduce the risk of flooding for residents and businesses in three parishes, including Orleans, Jefferson, and Plaquemines, on the west bank of the Mississippi River.
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From page 14... ...
Elder Dardar compared the prospect of moving to "taking a fish out of water." She went on to say that when her great aunt was moved in her nineties to St. Bernard, it "was like taking the tree and ruining it and not re planting it, because she died not long after she made the trip to St.
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From page 15... ...
Harriet Festing, a committee member, asked about the resources extracted from the region and possible ways to repair the land and ensure people feel protected. Elder Philippe explained that the oil and gas industry created thousands of canals that have contributed to coastal erosion, saltwater intrusion, and subsidence.
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From page 16... ...
Since oil and gas companies were supposed to leave the land more or less in its original condition, as they found it when they arrived, LaFleur noted that Elder Dardar was "trying to do work that someone else should have done a long time ago." He said Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan25 has always included information relating to human dimensions and nonstructural restoration strategies (e.g., floodproofing, voluntary acquisition) .26 He added that, at the same time, progress is still needed on how communities can work through coastal changes.
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From page 17... ...
the attempt to be as fair as possible." Elder Dardar stressed that her community members know their landscape and associated subtleties better than any outsider can, so it is vital that they be present to discuss anything involving their community. Elder Philippe pointed out that some strides have been made towards establishing a collaborative effort to find the solutions for issues that people are facing -- but there is still a long way to go.
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From page 18... ...
Elder Philippe suggested policy changes be made through collaboration and conversations with people facing critical, life-changing issues -- such as relocation -- so that the result will be based on informed decisions. Elder Dardar responded that it is important to remember these communities are the buffer for the inland communities -- so "by saving us, you save yourself for future years to come." Displacement Impacts on Community Well-being and Individual Health Gary Belkin, a committee member, asked about emotional burdens and challenges related to displacement.
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From page 19... ...
His tribe has been working towards receiving federal funding to build shelters for people in the lower-lying areas so his community can have a safe place for native and non-native people to stay during or after a hurricane.
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