The Mississippi Trustee Implementation Group is continuing implementation of the Restoring Living Shorelines and Reefs in Mississippi Estuaries project, a Phase IV Early Restoration project approved in 2015. The project initially included construction of up to 4.1 miles of living shoreline and breakwaters, approximately 267 acres of subtidal reef habitat creation, and 5 acres of intertidal reef habitat creation.
In September 2018, the Trustee Implementation Group released a Notice of Project Change, cancelling the following three components of the Project:
- The St. Louis Bay Living Shoreline
- The Little Island Living Shoreline, and
- The Channel Island Living Shoreline and Subtidal Reef
During final engineering and design of the five remaining project components, design refinements to two of them, the Big Island Living Shoreline and the Deer Island Subtidal Reef, were evaluated in accordance with Section 9.5.2 of the Trustee Council Standard Operating Procedures. The overall project will now include 1.5 miles of living shoreline and breakwaters, approximately 137 acres of subtidal reef and 5 acres of intertidal reef.
After a thorough review, the Trustee Implementation Group determined that the project refinements are consistent with the environmental review conducted in the Phase IV Early Restoration Plan (PDF, 1198 pages). Accordingly, no further analyses under the Oil Pollution Act or the National Environmental Protection Act are necessary.
View the Big Island Living Shoreline Evaluation of Changes (PDF, 7 pages) and the Deer Island Subtidal Reef Evaluation of Changes (PDF, 5 pages).