Louisiana's Coastwide Reference Monitoring System

Louisiana has this neat program called the Coastwide Reference Monitoring System. That's a lot of information all at once so let's unpack that. 

Coastwide: Covering the entire coast, in this case, of Louisiana.

Reference: Sites are in a reference network that occur in/out of project areas.

Monitoring: The sites are monitored for a suite of data types. 

System: It's a network, and a systematic approach to this project.

From the official CRMS website: "Wetland restoration efforts conducted in Louisiana require monitoring the effectiveness of individual projects as well as monitoring the cumulative effects of all projects in restoring, creating, enhancing, and protecting the coastal landscape. The effectiveness of the traditional paired-reference monitoring approach in Louisiana has been limited because of difficulty in finding comparable test sites. CRMS is a multiple reference approach that uses aspects of hydrogeomorphic functional assessments and probabilistic sampling. This approach includes a suite of sites that encompass the range of ecological conditions for each stratum, with projects placed on a continuum of conditions found for that stratum. Trajectories in reference sites are then compared with project trajectories through time. The approach could serve as a model for evaluating wetland ecosystems."


TL;DR: "CRMS was designed to monitor the effectiveness of restoration actions at multiple spatial scales from individual projects to the influence of projects on the entire coastal landscape." [source]

Biloxi Marsh, one of the areas that CRMS captures

So as we all should know by now, coastal wetlands loss is a massive problem. It's not specific to Louisiana, the Gulf Coast, the US Coast, or even North America. It's a problem world wide. Wetlands are lost by many many processes (in no particular order):
-Erosion
-Inundation
-Subsidence
-Altered hydrology
-Conversion of freshwater marsh to salt marsh (and vice versa)
-Lack of sediment influx
-Saltwater intrusion
-Agricultural development
-Hurricanes
-Residential development

In 1990, CWPPRA was created. CWPPRA is the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act and is a partnership of agencies aimed at wetlands restoration and protection from future destruction. It is also referred to as the Breaux Act because of US Senator John Breaux. There's several parts to CWPPRA, including a task force comprised of officials from the various agencies, a comprehensive state coastal restoration plan, feasibility studies, and a yearly priority project list.

In practice, CWPRRA has a plan that identifies, prioritizes, and constructs wetland restoration projects. It's called the Coastal Master Plan and it is updated every few years with additional data and projections.

210 CWPPRA projects have been authorized, and almost 100 projects have been developed and created. This creates a suite of questions. How effective is this restoration? Are the goals being met? Do the projects work? What can be done better? Where there any unintended or unexpected outcomes?

Coastal restoration of this magnitude is largely experimental and every site and situation is different. That's the nature of wetlands. There are tools to help like computer modeling, simulations, and the brand new Mississippi River physical model. But these nuances of the varied projects created the need for systematic data to inform decision making. CRMS was developed to monitor all these restoration projects at multiple spatial scales in multiple basins across Louisiana's coast. Because sites are located within and without of project areas, "comparisons of changing conditions are not limited to project influences, but are possible throughout the coastal zone" [source].

In addition to monitoring single projects, the broad scope and plethora of study sites allows scientists to assess the overall health and status of Louisiana's coastal wetlands.

The multiple reference approach allows for extensive data on changes between project (restoration) sites and reference (natural) sites. It allows managers to determine if projects are effective, and how restoration sites ultimately end up differing from reference sites. This is useful for making management and restoration decisions, and ultimately is useful for the health of the coast.

CRMS is only one piece of a many pronged approach to solving 1 massive problem in 1 location. It's a huge drop in the wetlands bucket for what needs to be done worldwide, but it's a fantastic start for Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. It's hard to fathom everything that needs to be done or could be done. So let's just look at one example!

My favorite example of wetlands restoration in action is the LaBranche wetlands.


The LaBranche wetland project isn't necessarily the flashiest, or the largest, or the most novel of projects but it was one of the very first projects created with CWPPRA. It's also near and dear to my own heart because I grew up in the area.

PO-17 is "Bayou LaBranche Wetland Creation". PO stands for Pontchartrain Basin, and 17 is the # of the project. This area is degraded wetlands caused by interstate construction, failure of agricultural impoundments, and the nearby railroad tracks. I just learned this myself but both the Unnamed 1915 Hurricane and Hurricane Betsy (50 years later in 1965) had scarily similar approaches to the coast of Louisiana, and both caused Lake Pontchartrain to overtop it's natural boundaries and for salt water to be pushed inland through canals and cuts. That further created problems for the LaBranche wetlands.

As we learned above, CWPPRA was authorized in 1990. In 1991, the very first list of Priority Projects was released. PO-17 was on it. The project was constructed in 1994. You can see the map below of the reference vs project areas.

The PO-17 Habitat Classification [source]

So here we are, with a project that was constructed in 1994. According to reports it was functioning as planned. "In 2003, the CWPPRA Task Force approved the implementation of a Coastwide Reference Monitoring System (CRMS) as a means to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of CWPPRA projects at three levels: project, region, and coastwide" [source].

And along come CRMS! In 2008 monitoring began at the LaBranche wetlands. Two CRMS sites were installed: CRMS2830 (reference) and CRMS6299 (project). All data is publicly available on the CIMS data website HERE. For 10 years CRMS6299 has been capturing conditions and data about the restored area and CRMS2830 has been collecting data about the neighboring reference (unrestored) site.

Now that it's 2018 and the PO-17 project was constructed 24 years ago, and was a success, with all of the data to prove it. The adjacent reference site has also been authorized, in 2010 -- PO-75 is "LaBranche East Marsh Creation", but has not yet been constructed.

This is a great example of a marsh restoration project (in this case, marsh creation) that was paired with a reference (control) site, and both were monitored for 10+ years, and since it was successful the reference site has now been authorized. It's brilliant!

I don't know when PO-75 will be built, but hopefully soon. Money is always a limiting factor and the process takes time.

Restoration is a long term plan. Nothing happens immediately. Managers and restoration specialists might not see the full results and potential of a project for 20 years. Most people don't think about the future 20 years out. But managers must look at the big picture to have long term success. That's why Louisiana's Coastal Master Plan is a 50 year plan, but also updated every 3 years with new data. Long term goals are necessary but management plans also have to be adaptive.

And a lot can happen in 20 years to influence the projects that are impossible to be forecast exactly. The LaBranche wetlands since the 1994 project construction have endured many things. Hurricanes with storm surge and rainfall can have a massive impact. The Bonnet Carre Spillway is adjacent to the LaBranche wetlands and when it is open, freshwater from the Mississippi River pushes out into Lake Pontchartrain and can be a (probably much needed) flush for the wetlands.
-1997: Bonnet Carre Spillway opened
-1998: Hurricane Georges
-2001: Tropical Storm Allison
-2005: Hurricane Katrina
-2008: Bonnet Carre Spillway opened
-2008: Hurricane Gustav
-2011: Bonnet Carre Spillway opened
-2012: Hurricane Isaac
-2016: Bonnet Carre Spillway opened
-2018: Bonnet Carre Spillway opened

Adaptability and resilience is key in any long term plan. Hurricanes and floods may hinder or help, but the long term plan can hopefully account for fluxes like that. The battle for coastal restoration continues in the face of everything that stands in the way!

Additional reading:

CRMS fact sheet, lacoast.gov, accessed 10/24/2018
CRMS website with data & maps 

2017 Coastal Master Plan Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, accessed 10/24/2018

Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act Wikipedia, accessed 10/24/2018

EPA - Coastal Wetlands EPA, accessed 10/24/2018

Wetland Loss In Louisiana lacoast.gov, accessed 10/24/2018

Wetlands: a global disappearing act RAMSAR, accessed 10/24/2018
New Orleans 1915 Hurricane Wikipedia, accessed 10/30/2018
Hurricane Betsy 1965 Wikipedia, accessed 10/30/2018
CIMS Data Tool, LA CPRA, accessed 10/30/2018
PO-17 Fact Sheet CWPPRA, accessed 10/30/2018
PO-75 Fact Sheet CWPPRA, accessed 10/30/2018
Mississippi River Physical Model LSU, accessed 10/31/2018
Bonnet Carre Spillway information Wikipedia accessed 10/31/2018