The Efficacy of Marsh Terraces in Enhancing and Restoring Gulf Coastal Wetlands

Description: Some of the greatest rates of coastal wetland loss in North America occur along the U.S. coast of the Gulf of Mexico. One coastal restoration technique commonly used to mitigate wetland loss in Louisiana and Texas is marsh terracing, whereby ridges of sediment are constructed and planted with vegetation to help protect surrounding areas against erosion from wind and waves. Despite widespread use, past monitoring and research efforts have yielded only limited understanding about the efficacy and persistence of marsh terraces. Through close collaboration with practitioners, this project aims to address this gap and will examine past marsh terracing projects to evaluate their effectiveness as a coastal restoration technique and provide guidance on their use in future restoration efforts.

Funding Cycle: Healthy Ecosystems 3
Funding Organization: National Academies of Science, Engineering, Medicine: Gulf Research Program

Wave and Current Measurements

Wave model (SWAN) simulation outputs

Survey dataset of wintering waterfowl use of marsh terraces and non-terraced sites in the northern Gulf of Mexico from 2018-10-11 to 2020-03-05

Survey data of breeding secretive marsh bird use of marsh terraces and non-terraced sites in Louisiana, 2019-04-16 to 2019-06-29 and 2021-04-09 to 2021-06-25

Data on emergent marsh vegetation on marsh terraces and non-terraced sites (survey datasets) obtained from 2019-06-11 to 2021-06-25