COASTAL EVOLUTION MANAGEMENT FOR A RESILIENT WORKING COAST: INCORPORATING LOCAL KNOWLEDGE INTO NUMERICAL MODELING IN PORT FOURCHON, LOUISIANA, USA

The coastal system is economically important to many communities in Louisiana, but they often struggle to adapt as the deltaic landscape rapidly evolves in response to tropical cyclones, sediment supply, and other drivers. Port Fourchon (PF) is located in the Mississippi River delta plain in a strategically important location for the Gulf of Mexico offshore oil and gas industry as well as local fisheries. Nearby barrier islands and marshes provide an essential stop-over point for migratory birds and habitat for hundreds of other species. Local wetland soils also bury carbon and are considered a natural solution for mitigating climate change. This project aims to help communities survive and thrive using science-based adaptation.

A channel deepening project at PF will provide ~20 million yd³ of sediment suitable for placement to construct wetlands. Using a modeling framework that incorporates hydrologic, geomorphic and biological processes, we aim to optimize use of this material to build nature-based solutions that balance the goals of protecting critical infrastructure, building community resilience, and enhancing ecosystem services.

A set of potential coastal restoration project alternatives will be modeled to evaluate their ability to provide community and infrastructure protection and resilience now and in future decades. The project alternatives have been developed through a series of collaborative meetings between community members and scientists. The community members participated throughout the model development and project selection process. Proposed restoration projects will be evaluated using storm surge and wave impacts from synthetic storms on the modeled landscape at year 30. The benefits to the community will also be given a monetary value in order to better incorporate their value into the decision-making process. This type of community influenced modeling and decision making can be applied to restoration project planning wherever local knowledge is important to project success.