In November 2021, Ducks Unlimited (DU) and partners received a $1.15 million National Fish and Wildlife (NFWF) National Coastal Resilience Fund grant to construct earthen terraces, plant black mangroves and smooth cordgrass, and install a “living shoreline” protection feature in fragmented, deteriorated marsh adjacent to Port Fourchon on property owned by The Louisiana Land and Exploration Company LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of ConocoPhillips, the Edward Wisner Donation Trust (Wisner), and the Greater Lafourche Port Commission (GLPC).
Matching contributions for this project came from the ConocoPhillips, Lafourche Parish Government, Wisner, GLPC, Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Chevron U.S.A., Shell, Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), US Fish and Wildlife Service, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries – Louisiana Outdoors Forever, James M. Cox Foundation, Woodside Energy, Ducks Unlimited, and other Gulf Coast Initiative Sponsors.
This will enhance habitat conditions for wildlife and fishery resources through increased edge habitat, tidal flats, and emergent marsh. The living shoreline will protect against wave fetch, while also creating habitat for oysters and other aquatic life. Black mangroves and smooth cordgrass planted along terrace edges will stabilize the shorelines, provide a head start on vegetation colonization, and provide improved fish and wildlife habitat. The project will also serve as an additional storm buffer between Port Fourchon and the Gulf of Mexico.
Once complete, Phase I of the Port Fourchon Terracing and Living Shoreline Project will be over 87,000 linear feet of earthen marsh terraces fortified by over 4,000 linear feet of living shoreline and vegetative plantings. The total Phase I project cost is $4.49 million: Wisner contributed $200,000. Construction began in November 2023.
A volunteer planting event took place December 5-7, 2024: completed terraces were planted with approximately 10,000 black mangroves. A second volunteer event to plant an additional 6,000 black mangroves will be held in April 2025. These volunteer events were coordinated with Restore or Retreat and made possible by a grant from Woodside Energy.
DU received a second $4.1 million NFWF National Coastal Resilience Fund grant to build Phase II of the Port Fourchon Terracing and Living Shoreline Project, which will include the construction of 76,000 linear feet of earthen terraces and vegetative plantings on property owned by ConocoPhillips east of elevated Highway 1. Both Phases were permitted at the same time, and construction of Phase II is anticipated to begin in 2026.