CPRA Seeks Project Ideas for Sustainable Coast Master Plan

The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is accepting project ideas that Louisiana citizens, governmental bodies and concerned organizations would like to see evaluated and considered for possible inclusion in the next Comprehensive Master Plan for a Sustainable Coast that will be submitted to the Louisiana Legislature in 2023.

Predictions in the 2017 Coastal Master Plan of future coastal land loss and storm surge-based flood risk, even with plan implementation, demonstrate that isolated project investments often provide minimal benefits beyond their immediate footprint or local area. Future predictions show the scale of the challenge facing coastal Louisiana and reinforce the need for the master plan process to focus on investments with beneficial effects at the sub-basin to regional scale. CPRA will accept proposals for new projects to be included in the 2023 Coastal Master Plan that meet this challenge.

New projects can be proposed by any source, including academia, parishes, elected officials, agencies, NGOs, landowners, business/industry, and the general public. Emphasis should be on projects that continue to provide benefit in the face of sea level rise and subsidence without continued maintenance, those that make a contribution to maintaining estuarine gradients in future decades, and those that provide storm surge-based risk reduction at the community or regional scale. The New Project Development Program Guidelines and Criteria can be viewed here.

All proposals must be delivered electronically, in PDF format, to MasterPlan@la.gov or mailed to the 2023 Coastal Master Plan Project Development Program at P.O. Box 44027, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70804 and received by February 14, 2020. Questions may be directed to MasterPlan@la.gov. Include “2023 Coastal Master Plan Project Development” in the subject line of the email. Proposals should be no more than seven pages (one page for the Cover Sheet and Contact Information, three pages for Project Description, one page for the Map, and one to two pages for Project Attributes).