UPI 25 Apr 11;
MANTEO, N.C., April 25 (UPI) -- Conservationists are making slow gains in the race against erosion in environments along the U.S. coast but it's an uphill battle, organizers say.
Sea level is rising more than 1/8 of an inch a year and isn't expected to slow anytime soon as global temperature increases mean result in glacial melt in polar regions.
Conservationists in North Carolina are working to protect sensitive coastal ecosystems. Scientists are trying to determine whether planting cedar trees could create a forest near coastal wetlands. This, they tell National Public Radio, could help restore vulnerable habitats for wolf, bears and others that rely on coastal areas.
The planting campaign, and similar efforts to create barrier reefs, could slow coastal erosion but not quicker than waves take their toll.
Brian Boutin, a scientist from the Nature Conservancy, told the broadcaster that global climate change was creating long-term problems not easily remedied.
"We expect change from sea level rise as a consequence of the warming and the melting of ice," he said. "And as that sea level rises, we expect to lose land."
Energy funds target coastal protection
UPI 25 Apr 11;
NEW ORLEANS, April 25 (UPI) -- More than $25 million in federal money would help protect the shoreline of Louisiana from erosion, the U.S. interior secretary announced.
The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement announced more than $25 million from the Coastal Impact Assistance Program was going to help protect Louisiana's coast.
The funding targets the construction of a land bridge that will protect the coast from erosion and preserve area marshlands. CIAP funds were created under a 2005 energy act to conserve and protect coastal environments in states along the U.S. outer continental shelf.
"This is an example of how energy revenues can be wisely reinvested in the protection of marshes, shorelines and wildlife habitat," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in a statement. "Louisiana's wetlands are a national treasure that have been steadily disappearing and we must continue to do all we can to protect and restore them."
A so-called marine mattress system is built from rock-filled containers that protect the area against wave erosion. The interior department said it should also help with the restoration of a marshland along the eastern border with Mississippi.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2011/04/25/Energy-funds-target-coastal-protection/UPI-15611303736578/#ixzz1Ka3alCTc
