CCA Building Conservation Program and partners set floating islands in the water this past weekend

TERREBONNE PARISH – CCA's Building Conservation Habitat Program would like to thank all of its volunteers and partners in the Floating Islands Project held this past Saturday in Houma.

The Floating Islands project, spearheaded for the past two years by CCA's Building Conservation Habitat Program, partnered with Shell Oil Company, Terrebonne Parish Government, CCA’s Bayou Chapter, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, America's Wetlands, Entergy, Enterprise Products, and Apache Louisiana Minerals LLC, and many CCA contributors to make this project possible.

The project is the first to use “floating islands” technology, developed by Martin EcoSystems, in an open-water application in the marine environment, although the technique has been used for shoreline stabilization in conjunction with hurricane protection levees in south Louisiana. About 1,500 linear feet of the islands were installed using two types of marsh grass - smooth cord in the center and seashore paspalum on the edges - to create a habitat component.

The Floating Islands' matrix, which is made of recycled plastic, is comprised of native plant species and will allow them to grow a root system to the water bottom. The plants will trap sediments and eventually grow toward and tie into the remaining marsh, strengthening it into a sustainable, flourishing mass.

See the photos from the event here.