Louisiana

American Bird Conservancy
Priority Bird Habitat Conservation in the West Gulf Coastal Plain/Ouachitas – II (AR, LA, OK, TX)
Coordinate conservation delivery networks to restore forest and grassland habitats and monitor species response within the West Gulf Coastal Plain/Ouachitas geography of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. Project will provide technical and financial assistance to private landowners to implement conservation practices on 3,000 acres benefiting Bachman’s sparrow, prairie warbler and other forest and grassland-dependent bird species.
$213,995

Audubon Nature Institute
Marine Mammal Stranding Response Support (LA)
Enhance capacity to respond to and investigate live and dead stranded, injured, entangled and out of habitat cetaceans in the State of Louisiana. Project will provide equipment and resources to allow Audubon to respond to and necropsy dead, stranded cetaceans and triage live stranded, injured, entangled and out-of-habitat cetaceans.
$140,000

City of New Orleans
Creating a Living Shoreline and Establishing Marshlands in East Landbridge (LA)
Conduct preliminary planning and design for living shoreline and marsh creation on the New Orleans East Landbridge, the only remaining natural feature in the Louisiana Coastal Master Plan that protects the City of New Orleans from storm surge in the Gulf. Project will create a design that will include 1,563 acres of wetlands created using hydraulically dredged sediment from Lake Borgne and 21,597 linear feet of living shoreline protection features to be installed in Lake Borgne.
$500,000

Ducks Unlimited
Monitoring Waterfowl Response to Wetland Restoration in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (AR, LA, MS)
Monitor waterfowl response to forest and shallow water wetland restoration on Wetland Reserve Easement sites within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley region of Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Project will deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to investigate their utility to monitor waterfowl use of restored wetlands and use imagery analysis and machine learning to establish efficient and effective protocols to derive duck counts and general use behaviors at a project level scale.
$195,000

Ducks Unlimited
Conservation of Ricelands in South and Central Louisiana through Technical Assistance and Outreach
Further technical assistance and outreach within the rice growing regions of Louisiana through NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program. Project will protect and enhance approximately 20,000 acres through technical assistance to producers, as well as strengthen, increase and encourage the voluntary participation of private landowners in Farm Bill Programs.
$200,000

East Coast Observers
Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network Enhancement for Southwest Louisiana
Station two stranding response personnel at Holly Beach in Cameron, Louisiana through May 2021. Project will ensure that each stranded animal gets reported accurately and reliably and confirm nesting rumors on the beach.
$55,800

Forest Landowners Association
Restoring Longleaf Pine and Species Habitat on Large-Acreage Private Lands (AL, GA, LA)
Establish 1,400 acres of longleaf pine and improve 2,900 acres of existing longleaf forest with prescribed fire on large-acreage private lands in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. Project will address barriers to restoring longleaf pine on large-acreage private lands by building trust among stakeholders and developing innovative tools to mitigate risks associated with at-risk and listed species regulations and providing technical and financial assistance to support planting and management of longleaf pine.
$150,000

Gentner Consulting Group
Deepwater Horizon Oceanic Fish Restoration Project Project Monitoring and Evaluation (multiple states)
Conduct requisite statistical analyses to evaluate key performance indicators for the project in accordance with the Oceanic Fish Restoration Project Monitoring Plan. Project will estimate bycatch reduction and alternative gear performance during the remaining repose years and will support evaluation of the overall performance of the project following the final repose year.
$430,600

Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation
Youth and Community-Driven Environmental Stewardship in New Orleans East (LA)
Train students and teachers in New Orleans East to design, implement and monitor small-scale restoration projects in underserved communities with a focus on sustainability, accessibility and community input. Project will engage community partners, students, teachers and community members in restoration projects, educating over 10,000 community members via outreach efforts and creating 2 acres of highly accessible public open space with restored habitat and enhanced tree canopy.
$50,000

Louisiana Tech University
Restoring Longleaf Using Grazing and Prescribed Fire (LA, TX)
Enhance 1,000 acres of longleaf pine forests in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas by integrating cattle grazing with prescribed burning. Project will monitor ecological benefits of prescribed burning with cattle grazing on multiple private forestlands on which it is being conducted, and landowners and natural resource professionals will be trained on these benefits as well as the logistics of cattle grazing in longleaf pine through a multi-media outreach program.
$224,500

Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation
Connecting Forest Landowners with Markets to Improve Forest Health and Wildlife Habitat (LA)
Pilot market-oriented approaches to manage bottomland hardwood forests and improve wildlife habitat in Louisiana. Project will develop partnerships between local wood suppliers, forest products companies, landowners and resource professionals to thin 700 acres of bottomland hardwood forest, improving forest habitat structure, understory condition, wildlife habitat and water quality.
$245,000

Lowlander Center
Protecting Sacred Sites and Building Community Resilience through Strengthening Marshes (LA)
Identify the many dredged and abandoned canals threatening tribal sacred sites, discern places that can be restored or conserved and recognize those that have passed their survival tipping points. Project will result in reduced land loss, preserve sacred places and safe-havens, and restore overland flow and some below-ground flows in coastal marshes by placing plugs in abandoned canals and removing spoil banks.
$112,006

Mississippi River Trust
Forested Wetland Restoration in the Lower Mississippi River Floodplain – II (multiple states)
Reforest and protect frequently flooded, marginal cropland on private lands through the adoption of USDA Wetland Reserve Easements in the active floodplain of the Lower Mississippi River. Project will establish 10,285 acres of bottomland hardwood forest to expand and enhance habitat and improve water quality, benefiting the Louisiana black bear, swamp rabbit, forest birds, waterfowl and freshwater fish.
$780,000

North Carolina State University
Expanding Prescribed Fire Delivery to Restore Southeast Forests (multiple states)
Expand and accelerate the implementation of prescribed fire to restore and enhance longleaf pine habitat and other fire dependent forest and grassland communities within the Southeast. Project will engage landowners, including underserved landowners and fire practitioners through technical assistance, training and outreach to increase the use of prescribed fire.
$180,000

St. Bernard Parish Government
Creating Ridge Restoration and Reforestation along the Bayou Terre aux Boeufs (LA)
Install shoreline protection and Cypress and Tupelo forest along the Bayou Terre aux Boeufs ridge and other intersecting bayous near Delacroix, Louisiana. Project will protect the remaining ridge through strategic armoring and reforestation.
$2,599,028

Stantec Consulting Services
Gulf-wide In-water Sea Turtle Monitoring Plan (multiple states)
Develop a statistically sound plan for the establishment of a coordinated Gulf-wide network for collection and compilation of critical abundance, demographic, and biological information on sea turtles in the Gulf of Mexico. Project will provide important context for project-level monitoring at individual sites where restoration is implemented and will assist with comparisons across multiple projects.
$224,267

Sustaining Our Urban Landscape
Riparian Tree Planting in the Lake Pontchartrain Watershed (LA)
Engage 600 community volunteers to plant 700 large, native trees in order to restore 457 acres of urban forest. Project will mitigate stormwater runoff into Lake Pontchartrain, enhance habitat for urban bird species and increase the Pontchartrain Park community’s access to nature.
$50,000

The Longleaf Alliance
Coordinating Local Implementation Team Capacity and Landowner Technical Assistance and Outreach (multiple states) - V
Improve and sustain coordination among 18 multi-partner local implementation teams that organize, plan and deliver conservation actions to restore and enhance the longleaf pine ecosystem. Project will support strategic on-the-ground restoration through conservation planning, as well as tracking and communication of longleaf pine restoration accomplishments.
$250,000

The Longleaf Alliance
Conserving Longleaf Forests, Wildlife Habitat and Water Resources through Innovative Partnerships (FL, GA, LA, SC, TX)
Restore and enhance 5,000 acres of longleaf pine habitat within priority drinking water supply watersheds in the Southeast. Project will build partnerships between forestry and conservation organizations, landowners and drinking water supply utilities, and provide private landowners with technical and financial assistance to restore and enhance longleaf pine habitat, protecting drinking water supplies and benefiting the gopher frog and other at-risk species.
$411,000

The Nature Conservancy
Restoring Forested Wetlands within Mississippi Alluvial Valley Priority Focal Areas (AR, LA, MS)
Project will restore and protect forested wetlands within high priority areas in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley region of Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Project will reforest 4,800 acres of marginal cropland, restore 1,200 acres of hydrologic wetland function and protect 6,000 acres with conservation easements, benefiting Louisiana black bear, swamp rabbits, waterfowl and neotropical migratory songbirds.
$690,356

University of New Orleans
Urban Bird Habitat and Environmental Education at The University of New Orleans (LA)
Enhance bird habitat along a key migration corridor, expand community tree canopy, improve public open spaces, avert waste from local waterways and engage the community in environmental stewardship. Project will: 1) establish an urban birding trail at the University of New Orleans (UNO); 2) initiate regular campus bird counts; 3) plant 120 native trees and shrubs along the trail route; 4) launch UNO participation in trash cleanup events; and 5) provide 375 educational experiences to UNO students.
$33,937