"$102 million project is creating new beach, marsh on West Grand Terre"
"Once the headquarters of Jean Lafitte and later the site of a U.S. military fort, West Grand Terre island now hosts a fleet of modern excavators and sand-pumping pipelines rather than smuggled treasure or cannon.
The $102 million restoration of West Grand Terre, adjacent to Grand Isle, marks a milestone in Louisiana’s effort to fortify its first line of defense against hurricanes. It’s the final piece of work to protect the southern flank of the degrading Barataria Basin since the state’s Coastal Restoration and Protection Agency began restoring barrier islands in 2006.
That string of islands helps buffer storm surge from reaching more than 1 million residents in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Charles parishes.
Two earlier projects nourished the sediment-starved east end of West Grand Terre with more sand, and placed rocks against the eroding shoreline around the 19th century Fort Livingston. The current work has a contractor pumping sand onto the island to raise and widen it."
Halle Parker reports for the New Orleans Times-Picayune August 2, 2021.
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