Restoration

The USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center (WARC) has created a refuge for biodiversity in Lafayette, Louisiana, through the restoration of coastal prairie, a unique and vital ecosystem that has almost vanished within the last 100 years.

The USGS and the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP) conducted post-restoration monitoring of Piping Plovers and Red Knots to better understand how birds respond to coastal restoration.

State and Federal agencies, including USGS, are working together to assess the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to determine appropriate restoration actions to restore natural resources, ecological services, and recreational services injured or lost due to the incident.

As the first federally mandated restoration program, Louisiana enacted the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) to address Louisiana’s land loss crisis.

USGS WARC ecologists are assisting partners in conducting avian surveys on Chandeleur Islands during the pre-restoration monitoring phase to document threatened and endangered species, species richness and diversity, species abundance, and habitat use.

USGS and partners will assess the potential cumulative effects of restoration projects on the resiliency of barrier islands and barrier shorelines in the north-central Gulf.

USGS researchers are conducting research on St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge and throughout coastal habitat in Northwest Florida to inform future management decisions in the Refuge and contribute to the growing knowledge of the ecology of gopher tortoises using coastal habitats.

WARC researchers are providing support to Louisiana Monitoring and Adaptive Management activities.

The federally threatened piping plover relies on sand-beach habitat year-round for nesting, foraging, and roosting, habitat that is particularly vulnerable to loss and degradation from coastal development, recreation activities, erosion, and sea-level rise.

USGS researchers are examining germination of Purple Loosestrife to determine if the seed bank can reestablish this invasive species in the Mississippi Delta.

The USGS is participating in the Louisiana-Trustee Implementation Group Monitoring and Adaptive Management work group to assess the injuries caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to select the appropriate restoration measures to compensate the public for the injury to coastal and marine resources.

Using ecological and geographical data, WARC researchers and their partners are analyzing avian and benthic sampling on Whiskey Island and Caminda Headland to compare pre- and post-restoration aspects of habitat occupancy, habitat availability, habitat use, and kernal density estimation.