On Thursday, February 19, 2009, the Atchafalaya Basin Program (ABP) Research and Promotion Board (RPB) held a meeting for review of the public comments on the Draft Annual Basin Plan. The Board approved the Draft Plan essentially as presented in the public meetings, albeit with a few editorial changes. The revised Plan should be posted on the ABP web site as soon as the changes are incorporated. This is a summary of the meeting.
The board approved the minutes from the previous meeting and voted to accept Steve Chutz as Acting Director of the Program.
Acting Director Chutz delivered a short version of the presentation given at the recent public hearings, including the history of the Basin and the ABP and presenting ongoing Basin Program projects and the new ones proposed in the draft plan. Steve noted that the time for written comments was extended because of the short timeline in this year’s plan process. (The Coastal Restoration and Protection Authority must approve the Draft Plan after it is approved by the RPB.)
Chutz recapped the Annual Plan process, noting that the initial public hearings were held last fall; that the Technical Advisory Group (TAG) met several times and recommended three projects to the RPB; that the RPB approved an initial draft; that public review hearings were held in February 2009; and that public comments were being presented to the RPB for review in the Feb. 19th meeting.
Proposed water management projects for the 2010 Plan include the Atchafalaya Basin Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment Tool, the Dogleg Canal maintenance dredging of the existing sedimentation trap, and the development of a comprehensive water management Plan for the East Grand Lake/Flat Lake Water Management Unit (WMU).
Ongoing water projects include the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) Buffalo Cove WMU improvement project, the St. Martin Parish/Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP) Beau Bayou hydrologic restoration, the USACOE Henderson WMU restoration, the USACE Sherburne Freshwater Diversion, and the ABP/St. Martin Parish Henderson Lake Access Channel dredging project.
Ongoing USACE/ABP Access projects include the Bayou Sorrell, Myette Point, and Krotz Spings Boat Launches, of which Krotz Springs is nearing construction and will require matching funds in the FY2010 budget. The State-funded Big Alabama Boat Launch, Phase 1 is under construction and Phase 2 is proposed for new funding. New construction and/or improvements are funded and projects underway for Bayou Amy, Bayou Benoit and Belle River Boat Launches.
Funding is also proposed for habitat restoration through vegetative plantings in areas that are or were impacted by construction activities in the Basin, plus monitoring of he success of the restoration.
The total budget for the proposed Plan is $3.5 million, of which $2.48 million are identified as Water Quality/Water Management Projects and the remaining $1.02 are “Access and Habitat Restoration Projects” as described above. However, $1.5 million for the Resource Inventory and Assessment Tool are being requested through the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. It was also pointed out that the Beau Bayou Project in St. Martin Parish is being funded through CIAP and not by USACE Floodway or ABP funds.
Transcripts of the oral comments from the public meetings and copies of written comments were provided at the RPB meeting. The Plaquemine meeting was not well attended but the Henderson meeting was crowded and lively. A summary of the comments is contained in another post on this site.
The Board reviewed the comments from the meetings and agreed to address several of them in future meetings but did not add projects based on the comments to this year’s plan, which is on a tight schedule through the system. St. Martin President Guy Cormier expressed concern for the issues of the craw-fishermen in his parish and suggested that someone should attempt to deal with the access and water level issues but agreed that the problem would not be solved in the current Annual Plan.
The Board voted to approve all recommended editorial changes, which should improve the readability and understandability of the document. The revised document will be posted to the ABP web site and forwarded to the CPRA for its approval. After approval by the CPRA, the Plan will be delivered to the Legislature for consideration.
The current version of the plan can be downloaded from: http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/atchafalaya/ .
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