Coastal Loss and Lack of Protection Threaten Our Future
Maintain Current Investments: This map shows what our coast would look like in the future if all we do is maintain our current investments.
817,000 acres of wetlands lost
330 Miles of moderate levee upgrades*
0 Miles of high levee upgrades**
Creating Multiple Lines of Defense: The State's Proposed Plan
Multiple Lines of Defense Concept to Protect Our Coast and Citizens
Courtesy of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation: Lopez, 2006
New Investments Under the State's Proposed Plan: This map shows what would happen to our coast if the state's proposed plan were funded and implemented today.
Key Issues and Challenges for the State's Proposed Plan
Comprehensive levee protection and coastal restoration would:
Comprehensive levee protection and coastal restoration would:
- Require very substantial investments estimated to cost tens of billions of dollars over several decades
- Protect most urban areas from severe or very severe storms**
- Dramatically reduce wetlands loss. Improve fisheries and habitats that depend on wetlands and freshwater
- Shift locations that support saltwater fisheries
533,000 acres of wetlands lost
350 Miles of moderate levee upgrades*
370 Miles of high levee upgrades**
* Protection from a storm with a 1% chance of occurring each year
** Protection from a storm with a 0.2% chance of occurring each year
NOTE: Because planning and analysis is ongoing, these land gain statistics represent estimates. Not all proposed restoration projects have been modeled, and ongoing land loss is not be reflected.
