The Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group is preparing to build upon the ongoing work of the Regionwide Trustee Implementation Group into the development of a new plan for restoring the Chandeleur Islands. The future Draft Restoration Plan #9: Chandeleur Islands will take the next step in planning to restore and conserve the Islands’ natural resources injured by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. A strategy for doing this is described in the Opportunity for Preliminary Public Engagement (PDF, 8 pages), available for public review and comment through February 15, 2024.
In their upcoming Draft Restoration Plan #9, the Louisiana Trustees expect to evaluate alternatives developed through engineering and design currently being undertaken through the Regionwide Trustee Implementation Group’s Chandeleur Islands Component Engineering and Design Project.
Because the project will move from one Implementation Group to another and from engineering and design to construction planning, the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group has prepared the Opportunity for Preliminary Public Engagement to inform the public of this transition and next steps toward restoration of Chandeleur Islands resources.
The document also discusses the Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group’s consideration of settlement allocations for multiple restoration types (e.g., habitat, birds, sea turtles, submerged aquatic vegetation) to fund this ecosystem-level restoration. With publication of the document, the public has an opportunity to comment on the Trustees’ intent to move the Chandeleur Islands restoration forward to construction planning.
How to Submit Public Comments
The 30-day public review and comment period extends through February 15, 2024. Comments may be submitted via the following methods:
- Via the Web: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/LATIGOPPE
- Via U.S. Mail:
U.S Fish and Wildlife Service Gulf Restoration Office
1875 Century Blvd.
Atlanta, Georgia 30345
Chandeleur Island Background
The Chandeleur Islands are one of a handful of important barrier islands located off the coast of Louisiana that, like many others, will disappear if they are not restored. The narrow arc of land that is the Chandeleur Islands is only about 11% as large as it was one hundred years ago. Even in their diminished state, however, the Chandeleur Islands still form a nearly 50-mile-long first line of defense for Louisiana’s coastline. The island chain also provides crucial habitat for a multitude of plant and animal species.
Future Draft Restoration Plan #9
The Draft Restoration Plan #9 for the Chandeleur Islands will address wide-ranging injuries to natural resources caused by the oil spill, refine and analyze preliminary design alternatives developed in the Regionwide Trustees’ project, and potentially identify and analyze a final design alternative to carry forward and fund for construction. The Draft Restoration Plan #9 will include analysis of Chandeleur Islands restoration alternatives under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The Louisiana Trustees will consider comments received during the comment period for the Opportunity for Preliminary Public Engagement when drafting Restoration Plan #9.
The Louisiana Trustee Implementation Group will release the Draft Restoration Plan #9 for public review and comment before finalizing the plan and deciding which alternative, if any, to implement.
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