Planning for the future of coastal Louisiana: Data, models and decision-making - Livestream

Coastal Louisiana has lost over 1800 square miles of coastal wetlands since the 1930’s, over 25% of the wetland area that then existed. The causes vary across the coast and include combinations of natural processes and human modifications, mostly to hydrology. In the future these processes are exacerbated by accelerating sea-level rise. Since the early 1990’s concerted efforts to restore wetlands have been underway, and the 2017 Coastal Master Plan includes an ambitious combination of water management and dredged material placement. The decisions on which projects to move forward is based on decades of research, an unprecedented network of monitoring stations, and numerical models that allow agencies to predict the effects of individual projects and their interactions. The presentation will discuss how scientific data and modeling tools are used to support these decisions, and the models are refined over time as new data and research increase knowledge about the coastal system.

This event will only be livestreamed.

Speaker:   Denise Reed, Professor Gratis, University of New Orleans