Army Corps of Engineers Study Highlights Significant Benefits of Mid Barataria Sediment Diversion for Rebuilding Coastal Wetlands

On Wednesday, January 23, Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced plans to allocate $55 million in state surplus dollars to important coastal protection and restoration projects, as well as announcing more than $300 million through the Gulf of Mexico Security Act to fund master plan risk-reduction projects across the coast over the next three years. He also announced the appointment of Chip Kline to executive assistant to the governor for coastal activities, a position that also serves as chairperson of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority.

Denver, Colorado – The following statement is from Ted Kowalski, director of the Colorado River initiative at the Walton Family Foundation, in support of the U.S.-Mexico Colorado River agreement announced today:

Remarks by Barry Gold from the Memorandum of Understanding Signing Ceremony

At the Walton Family Foundation, we believe conservation solutions that make economic sense are the ones that stand the test of time. Our mission is to improve lives and secure healthy ocean and river ecosystems by aligning environmental, social and economic interests.

The Walton Family Foundation is proud of our decades-long track record investing in real solutions to tough environmental challenges. Over the last five years alone, we’ve invested $351 million in efforts to support real, lasting ecological restoration in the Gulf of Mexico, to tackle the water policy challenges in the Colorado River Basin, to conserve some of the most ecologically rich seascapes around the globe and to push for sustainable fisheries management that benefits fishing communities and families. Our grantees include many of the nation’s leading environmental groups, as well as local organizations working on behalf of the communities that depend directly on healthy rivers, oceans and wildlife.

We applaud the USDA’s announcement today that the Colorado and Mississippi River basins will be included as critical conservation areas in the agency’s new Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The new initiative, part of USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, is a Farm Bill conservation program that will focus on locally-driven projects that restore rivers, improve water quality and support economies across the country.