Maurepas Swamp PRM and Post Construction Plantings

This Permittee-Responsible Mitigation (PRM) project was designed to mitigate for a new pipeline with unavoidable impacts to 450 acres of wetlands in Eastern Louisiana, within a Wildlife Management Area managed by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Restoration of the PRM tracts, contained entirely within the Maurepas Swamp, was coordinated to support proposed freshwater introductions sponsored by various state and federal agencies.

The Maurepas Swamp has been in a steady state of decline since the 1920’s and 1930’s when most of the area was heavily logged for cypress timber. The implementation of diversions and facilitated drainage had increased stagnation of the swamp areas within the Lake Maurepas basin. The lack of freshwater inflow over time has gradually decreased the nutrient load and hampered the growth of forested habitats.

The PRM project sites are in areas that were historically composed of primarily old growth cypress-tupelo swamps with some hardwood component on the ridges of the interior. Restoration and preservation under the PRM covered enhancing 485 acres of bottomland hardwood habitat and 67 acres of cypress/tupelo swamp, and rehabilitating 85 acres of cypress/tupelo swamp. These activities were coordinated with a number of stakeholders, including the ESACE New Orleans District and Louisiana Department of Natural Resources Office of Coastal Management, to best support the landscape-scape restoration goals for the swamp, and included a donation of land by RES of 7,039 acres of forested wetlands to Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for inclusion within the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area.