what problems are caused by dredging out wetlands

The wetlands created by use of sediment removed from the navigation channel vary in age from 6 months to 43 years old. The bird’s-foot delta is positioned between the freshwaters of the Mississippi River and the deep marine high salinity waters of the Gulf of Mexico. These birds flock to these newly restored wetlands for the submerged aquatic vegetation, aquatic invertebrates and other food resources these new habitats provide. The wetlands created from this program provide higher elevation land ideal for nesting birds and mammals with a gentle slope towards tidal mudflats and submerged sand bars that provide excellent foraging habitat for wading birds and fisheries.Įach fall and winter this delta system is an important wintering ground for approximately one million migratory waterfowl and several hundred thousand shorebirds and wading birds. The beneficial use of dredged sediment on the MRSC has been instrumental in restoring habitat for a wide range of wildlife and fisheries. The focus was on finding a way to increase the beneficial use of dredged material, resulting in progress in the battle over wetlands loss in a 30-mile reach of the Mississippi River. The idea was simply to increase the beneficial use of dredge material in the environmentally sensitive bird’s-foot delta of the Mighty Mississippi to assist the Corps’ effort to secure Coastal Zone Consistency from the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Army Corps of Engineers-came together to develop a more ecologically-restorative approach to the annual channel maintenance dredging on the Mississippi River Ship Channel (MRSC). It describes how a variety of stakeholders-navigation stakeholders, dredge contractors, river pilots and the U.S. This project won Honorable Mention in the 2018 Environmental Dredging Awards from the Western Dredging Association. freight movement to and from the global marketplace that’s responsible for the movement of some 500 million tons of cargo per year. Similarly, a number of groups contribute to freight movement on the Lower Mississippi River a major supply chain artery for U. Louisiana is known for its gumbo – a rich mixture of a variety of ingredients that combine for a dish that is known and enjoyed worldwide.

What problems are caused by dredging out wetlands