How to Restore a Bayou

Located adjacent to the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, Bayou Bienvenue was once central to a thriving cypress swamp. Over the years, the native ecology of that area has been decimated by storms, subsidence, erosion and saltwater intrusion. A number of projects are now under way to create and maintain a portion of the area as freshwater wetlands.

In this video, see how the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy is assisting in the efforts of project planners, community activists and governmental agencies.

"Getting community expectations married with technical feasibility is a challenge any place you do wetland restoration," says Mark Davis, institute director. "This is a place where those questions are coming sooner."

Any large-scale restoration project necessarily needs any number of legal, political, economic and social "ingredients," says Davis, and Bayou Bienvenue is a good place to look at how all those ingredients come together.