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Atchafalaya Basin Program

ABP2

Act 570 of the 2018 Regular Session, enacting La. R.S. 49:214.8.1, et seq., transferred the responsibilities of the Atchafalaya Basin Research and Promotion Board and the Atchafalaya Basin Program from the Department of Natural Resources to the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The Atchafalaya Basin Program (R.S. 49:214.8.1 et seq.) is placed within the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which shall perform and exercise the powers, duties, functions, and responsibilities of the Program as provided by law. The annual basin plan shall be included in the Annual Plan: Integrated Ecosystem Restoration and Hurricane Protection in Coastal Louisiana produced each year by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

 

Click here to view the Fiscal Year 2024 Draft Atchafalaya Basin Program Annual Plan

 

 

2024 Atchafalaya Basin Program Annual Plan

New Project Development Guidelines and Criteria

New projects can be proposed by any source, including academia, parishes, elected officials, agencies, NGOs, landowners, business/industry, and the general public. Emphasis should be on projects that continue to provide benefit in the face of sea level rise and subsidence without continued maintenance, those that make a contribution to maintaining estuarine gradients in future decades (e.g., hydrological restoration), and those that provide risk reduction at the community or regional scale.

New projects can be proposed that:

  1. Address Water Management
  2. Hydrologic Restoration; address problems with water quality and sedimentati
  3. Public Access
  4. Beneficial use of dredge material (BUDMAT)
  5. Integrated Projects, which are projects that incorporate multiple approaches (consistent with the types mentioned above) and that
    1. function synergistically with newly proposed or 2017 Coastal Master Plan
    2. and previous ABP Annual Plan projects.
    3. Respond to dramatic changes in the coastal landscape (e.g., resulting from hurricanes or other disasters that have occurred since the 2017 Coastal Master Plan was approved).
    4. Address future uncertainty challenges, such as climate change, or directly support future transitions in the ecosystem.

Screening Criteria

A screening process will be used to determine whether a newly proposed project has the potential to be included in the 2024 ABP Annual Plan:

  1. Consistency with the 2017 Louisiana’s Comprehensive Master Plan Objectives and Principles: Project concepts need to clearly contribute and be consistent with the principles and objectives of the master plan (2017 Coastal Master Plan; 47-49) to be considered for inclusion.
  2. Geographic Area: CPRA is seeking project concepts that will address areas of greatest water quality, sedimentation, and public access issues. Proposed projects need to be located within the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway or in areas directly adjacent to the basin.
  3. Duplicative Effects: Many concepts considered in previous plans had overlapping scopes, goals, and physical locations. New projects must be significantly different than any project analyzed through the 2012 and 2017 CMP and previous ARB Annual Plan processes, including those that were proposed though not selected in the final plan. Previously proposed projects may be considered as a part of an Integrated Project, as long as they are expected to provide sub-basin benefits. See the following documents for maps and lists of projects analyzed through the 2012 and 2017 CMP processes:  2012 Coastal Master Plan (pp 68-69), 2012 Appendix A. Project Definitions, 2012 Appendix A1 – Projects Screened out of Consideration, 2017 Coastal Master Plan  (pp 68-69), and 2017 Appendix A: Project Definition.
  4. Adequate Information: Project concepts need to be described in sufficient detail so that they can be evaluated using the various models/techniques given the locati Note that detailed cost and land area estimates are not necessary. See “Submittal Details” below for minimum attributes required for each project type.

 

Submittal Details

All proposals must be delivered electronically, in .pdf format, to AtchafalayaBasin@la.gov or mailed to the “2024 Atchafalaya Basin Program Annual Plan” at 150 Terrace Avenue, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70802 and received by December 1, 2022. Questions may be directed to AtchafalayaBasin@la.gov as well. CPRA staff may be available to help develop and refine project details and attributes. Please include “2024 Atchafalaya Basin Program Annual Plan” in the subject line of the email. Proposals should be no more than 7 pages (1 page for the Cover Sheet and Contact Information, 3 pages for Project Description, 1 page for the Map, and 1-2 pages for Project Attributes). After the close of the solicitation period, projects that meet screening criteria will be considered in the evaluation process for the 2024 Annual Plan.

All proposals must include the following:

1. Cover Sheet:

a. Project Title

b. Full Contact information (name, address, email, phone number)

2. Project Description:

a. Project Summary: Brief description of project goals and objectives, features, and intent (including a description of how the project concept meets Screening Criteria 1-3), not to exceed 3 pages, including all figures, tables, links and reference Please include Project Type, Planning Unit, and Parish(es) in which the project will be located and where the benefits are expected to be delivered. Only project types listed below (A-G) will be considered.

b. Map: Please provide a map with details of the project location, geographic coordinates for each project feature (marsh creation area, structure location, e), and overall influence area regardless of project type.

c. Shapefile (If available): Please provide a shapefile (or kmz file) of the project area and/or location(s) of project feature

3. Project Attributes: Project attribute details and definitions are located in Appendix A of the 2017 Coastal Master Plan

A. Hydrologic  Restoration: Location, Structure Type, Structure Location, Operational Regime, heyStructure Length (ft), Structure Width (ft), Structure Opening Area (ft²).

B. BUDMAT: Location, Created Acres, Length (ft), Width (ft), Borrow

Source.

C. Integrated Projects: Location and details of relevant features as noted under A and B.