High Ouachita River Levels Postpones Floodplain Reconnection Project
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 19, 2009
Contacts:
Tom Mackenzie,, FWS, 404-679-7291, Cell: 678-296-6400, Tom_MacKenzie@fws.gov
George Chandler, FWS, 318-726-4222, george_chandler@fws.gov
Chris Anderson, TNC, 612-331-0747, Cell: 612-845-2744, canderson@tnc.org
Keith Ouchley, TLC, 225-338-1040 Cell: 225-938-8296, kouchley@tnc.org
Monroe,
La. -- Due to high
water on the Ouachita River
and flooding of the 16,000-acre
Mollicy Unit, the East Side
of Upper Ouachita National
Wildlife Refuge, near Bastrop,
La., is closed to ensure
public safety.
The unusually high river
level is overtopping the
obsolete 30-foot tall levee
at the refuge that has been
targeted for partial removal.
Overtopping or even catastrophic
failure of the levee does
not pose any threat to surrounding
communities, and has nothing
to do with the flood control
levee system protecting the
area.
Floodwaters are expected
to continue to rise through
Wednesday. Water will likely
continue to spill onto the
floodplain at the refuge
for several more days until
the river’s level drops below
the levee.
This flood will postpone
the beginning of work on
a $4.5 million project to
permanently breach the Mollicy
levee, reconnect the Ouachita
River to its floodplain,
and restore 25 square miles
of valuable fish and wildlife
habitat. Nearly $2.1 million
comes from the Recovery Act
stimulus funding.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and The Nature Conservancy
jointly developed the project,
which is believed to be the
largest floodplain reconnection
project in the Mississippi
River Basin and possibly
the entire United States.
“The overtopping of the levee
is flooding the Mollicy Unit
area now,” said George Chandler,
project leader for all national
wildlife refuges in North
Louisiana. “We hope to start
up the restoration project
as soon as it is safe.”
“This only underscores the
need for carefully engineered
breaches in the levee, which
for decades has artificially
separated the river from
its floodplain,” said Keith
Ouchley, director of The
Nature Conservancy in Louisiana.
“Reconnecting the river to
its floodplain, as we’ve
planned to do in partnership
with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, will eliminate the
risk of catastrophic levee
failure, alleviate flooding
downstream, improve water
quality and enhance fish
and wildlife habitat.”
Harold Leggett, Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, added that this project also offers a unique opportunity to measure water quality improvement provided by floodplain reconnection.
"This is the epitome of a non-point source pollution reduction project because the partners in this venture are converting cropland into wetlands,” said Leggett. “This is a very good step toward reducing nonpoint source pollution to area waters and eventually to the Gulf hypoxic zone. It’s also an important and unique project because we can take water quality samples before and after the project begins. This information will play a vital role as we look at ways to improve water quality throughout the state."
LDEQ is providing project
funding for water quality
monitoring through the state's
Non-Point Source grant program.
Due to the flooding, high
waters may partially fill
the floodplain and potentially
cause breaches in the dirt
levee. Either a planned or
unplanned breach of this
levee will help reduce peak
flood levels downstream.
"The Wildlife Refuge
Project is an excellent example
of a key environmental operating
principle for the Corps," said
Brig. Gen. Michael J. Walsh,
Commander of the Mississippi
Valley Division. "We
always try to seek a balance
between human development
activities and natural systems
by joining economic and environmental
solutions that support and
reinforce one another."
The levee last failed in
1991. A 300-foot long hole
in the levee allowed water
to inundate the refuge’s
25-square mile floodplain,
reducing flooding downstream
in Monroe.
The east part of the refuge
will remain closed until
further notice.
In the 1990s, the Conservancy
helped acquire much of the
refuge’s floodplain. The
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
has planted over three million
trees on 10,000 acres of
the refuge in order to restore
the floodplain forest that
existed before the property
was converted to farmland.
Additional reforestation
will follow in future years.
White-tailed deer, bobcats,
foxes, rabbits, grey and
fox squirrels, wild turkeys,
wood ducks, alligators, bald
eagles, and more than 265
species of migratory birds
are commonly seen at the
refuge. The site also provides
prime wintering habitat for
tens of thousands of ducks
and geese. The endangered
red-cockaded woodpecker and
the threatened Louisiana
black bear also live on parts
of the refuge.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service is the principal
federal agency responsible
for conserving, protecting,
and enhancing fish and wildlife
and their habitats for the
continuing benefit of the
American people. Visit: http://www.fws.gov/ and http://www.fws.gov/southeast . http://www.fws.gov/upperouachita/,
http://www.fws.gov/southeast/upperouachita/ and http://www.fws.gov/southeast/news .
The Nature Conservancy is
a leading conservation organization
working around the world
to protect ecologically important
lands and waters for nature
and people. The Conservancy
and its more than 1 million
members have protected nearly
120 million acres worldwide. Visit
The Nature Conservancy on
the Web at www.nature.org.
