Lessons Learned?
One would have hoped, in our post-Katrina world, with all that we learned about the beneficial flood mitigation properties of wetlands, that we would be protecting all that we had and trying to restore and reconstruct more. One would have hoped. It appears that smart growth and wetland protection have taken a back seat to "strategic economic development." It was announced in the Times-Picayune on February 23 that St. Tammany Parish on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain wants to build a bypass around Mandeville. According to the parish, it will impact almost 80 acres, 75% of which are wetlands that will need to be filled...and this figure doesn't include any secondary destruction that will inevitably come in the form of access roads, exit and entrance ramps, and general sprawl.
This bypass was announced in conjunction with the update of St. Tammany Parish's "New Directions 2025 Strategic Economic Development Plan." So, I decided to take a look at the Parish's website and take a look at this plan...and all I could find was the old plan, which didn't include the bypass. It seems to me that they are changing the plan in order to accommodate destructive development. If this is true, why even have the plan in the first place?
A little more perusal of their website resulted in a section where there is a sidebar about the variety of birds in the parish. Quoting their website, "the variety of bird life here in St. Tammany Parish is another delicate aspect of the quality of life that comes from living in nature's backyard." Now they have a permit request to the Corps of Engineers to fill almost 60 acres of that backyard with asphalt (by the way, the Corps approves over 97% of the wetland-fill permits that pass through their office).
Now all of this might sound like I am anti-development, but I would just like to see some consistency. Many people have moved to the North Shore to live in "nature's backyard" and Parish officials need to acknowledge the intrinsic value of the wetlands that surround them: flood and storm surge protection, water filtration, wildlife habitat, and intrinsic beauty.
Matt Rota is the GRN's Assistant Director of the Water Resources Program
One would have hoped, in our post-Katrina world, with all that we learned about the beneficial flood mitigation properties of wetlands, that we would be protecting all that we had and trying to restore and reconstruct more. One would have hoped. It appears that smart growth and wetland protection have taken a back seat to "strategic economic development." It was announced in the Times-Picayune on February 23 that St. Tammany Parish on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain wants to build a bypass around Mandeville. According to the parish, it will impact almost 80 acres, 75% of which are wetlands that will need to be filled...and this figure doesn't include any secondary destruction that will inevitably come in the form of access roads, exit and entrance ramps, and general sprawl.
This bypass was announced in conjunction with the update of St. Tammany Parish's "New Directions 2025 Strategic Economic Development Plan." So, I decided to take a look at the Parish's website and take a look at this plan...and all I could find was the old plan, which didn't include the bypass. It seems to me that they are changing the plan in order to accommodate destructive development. If this is true, why even have the plan in the first place?
A little more perusal of their website resulted in a section where there is a sidebar about the variety of birds in the parish. Quoting their website, "the variety of bird life here in St. Tammany Parish is another delicate aspect of the quality of life that comes from living in nature's backyard." Now they have a permit request to the Corps of Engineers to fill almost 60 acres of that backyard with asphalt (by the way, the Corps approves over 97% of the wetland-fill permits that pass through their office).
Now all of this might sound like I am anti-development, but I would just like to see some consistency. Many people have moved to the North Shore to live in "nature's backyard" and Parish officials need to acknowledge the intrinsic value of the wetlands that surround them: flood and storm surge protection, water filtration, wildlife habitat, and intrinsic beauty.
Matt Rota is the GRN's Assistant Director of the Water Resources Program
Labels: Army Corps Reform, Natural Storm Defenses, Wetlands
posted by Matt at 2:41 PM
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