For Immediate Release: April 14, 2010
Contact: Chris Macaluso
(225) 342-3972
chris.macaluso@la.gov
REMINDER: State Coastal Restoration and Protection Officials to Hold Coastal Forest Conservation Meetings This Month
BATON ROUGE -- The Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration will conduct four informational meetings for interested landowners across coastal Louisiana from April 20-29, 2010 to discuss the Coastal Forest Conservation Initiative (CFCI) being funded by the state's Coastal Impact Assistance Program (CIAP).
All those who own or are charged with managing forested coastal lands are encouraged to attend. The meeting dates and locations are as follows:
• Tuesday, April 20: Slidell. Old Slidell City Council Chambers. 1330 Bayou Lane Building #110
• Thursday, April 22: Houma. Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum. 7910 Park Avenue.
• Tuesday, April 27: Lake Charles. Calcasieu Parish Public Library. 301 West Claude Street
• Thursday, April 29: Lafayette. Clifton Chenier Center. 220 West Willow Street.
All meetings will begin with an open house session with officials from the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration at 4 p.m. followed by a presentation detailing the program at 6 p.m. and a question and answer period.
The CFCI is a completely voluntary program with a primary objective of acquiring land rights from willing landowners to address demonstrated threats of habitat loss or land-use change and opportunities for restoration or enhanced sustainability of coastal forest tracts that provide significant ecological value and may provide storm damage reduction functions.
Land owners who are interested in participating are being asked to submit an application providing information about the parcel of land they are proposing for inclusion in the program. OCPR will open a 90 day application period beginning May 1, 2010.
More detailed information about the program is available at www.lacpra.org/cfci.
The initiative provides benefits to both the landowner and the public and considers all native forest types including bald cypress-tupelo and other swamps, live oak natural levee forests, coastal live oak-hackberry forests (cheniers), bottomland hardwood forests, barrier island live oak forests (maritime forests), mixed pine hardwood forests, longleaf pine savannahs, salt dome hardwood forests, or other native forest communities which also rank highly within the prioritization process.
Coastal forests in Louisiana have long been recognized as valuable for the goods and services that they provide. More recently, their importance as buffers to hurricane storm surge and winds has been increasingly appreciated.
For more information about the CFCI, please contact Laura Belden at OCPR at (225) 342-4592 or by email at info@lacpra.org.
For more information about Louisiana's coastal restoration and hurricane protection efforts, please contact Chris Macaluso at (225) 342-3972 or by e-mail at chris.macaluso@la.gov.
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The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority's mandate is to develop, implement and enforce a comprehensive coastal protection and restoration master plan. For the first time in Louisiana's history, this single state authority will integrate coastal restoration and hurricane protection by marshaling the expertise and resources of the Louisiana Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration and other state agencies, to speak with one clear voice for the future of Louisiana's coast. Working with federal, state and local political subdivisions, including levee districts, the CPRA will work to establish a safe and sustainable coast that will protect our communities, the nation's critical energy infrastructure, and our bountiful natural resources for generations to come. The CPRA of Louisiana was established by Act 8 of the 1st Extraordinary Session of 2005.
