USGS Proposal: Predicting the Resilience of the Chandeleur Island Chain as a Function of Restoration Options

Executive Summary

Breton National Wildlife Refuge was severely impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. The severity of damage brings into question what the future configuration of the island chain will be, what protective function the islands will provide for the mainland wetlands and New Orleans, and whether the Breton NWR can continue to provide the same level of functional habitat for nesting birds and other wildlife as it did prior to the hurricanes.

The USGS proposes to collaborate with the University of New Orleans (Pontchartrain Institute for Environmental Sciences) to offer science and technical advice to the Fish and Wildlife Service that will enable them to make reasonable restoration management decisions. The work proposed will build on a data effort in which baseline bathymetry and topography are currently being collected and analyzed under support from the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources and USGS.

The effort proposed to FWS will include shoreline, topographic and bathymetric change, geologic framework and sediment resource potential, and modeling to project island response to various restoration alternatives.