Island Building in the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana USA An Engineering with Nature Demonstration Project

摘要

Over the past several years, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New Orleans District has been using dredged material to nourish a small island that began forming naturally in the Atchafalaya River, Louisiana (LA). This effort has involved placing sediment dredged from a Federal navigation channel during routine maintenance in low relief mounds upriver of the island since 2002 (Figure 1). The mounded material has been dispersed by natural river currents to self-design the island. Prior to 2002, dredged material was being placed directly into shallow depressions along the river's banks to nourish existing wetlands, but continued placement into these areas was not sustainable because high quality wetlands would be converted into upland habitat.