Marsh Island serves as a critical storm surge buffer for southern Vermilion, Iberia, and St. Mary parishes and provides essential habitat for diverse land and water-based species. The island is also home to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge, a 71,000-acre refuge of brackish and intermediate marsh.

To address ongoing land loss driven by wave energy and subsidence across the island, CPRA has initiated the Marsh Island Restoration Project, a comprehensive strategy to address the island’s issues through both new concept projects and maintenance and repair projects. This approach prioritizes both the construction of new features to combat erosion and the rehabilitation of previous investments to extend their lifespan.

The plan identifies several new project concepts aimed at maximizing ecosystem resilience across Marsh Island. A primary focus is the construction of a 13-mile shoreline protection feature along the eastern boundary, intended to combat wave energy and significantly reduce shoreline retreat in this area of high exposure to the Gulf. Concurrently, the plan targets the southeast quadrant for marsh creation and nourishment to restore submerged or damaged wetlands, while proposing new terracing within interior lakes to dissipate wave energy and protect internal shorelines.

Complementing these new construction efforts, the strategy also includes critical maintenance and repair projects to existing infrastructure. This involves structural lifts to rock dikes along the northern shoreline and existing terraces in Lakes Sand, Tom, and Oyster Lake to restore their height and wave-attenuation capabilities. Additionally, repairs are planned for the Big Impoundment Levee to rehabilitate the structure and ensure it retains its function during future storm events. Collectively, these measures aim to halt the conversion of marsh to open water, maintain Marsh Island’s hydrologic integrity, and preserve its function as a premier wildlife sanctuary and coastal defense.