Low water under Basin Bridge?

We have received many questions as to why the water under the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge is so low. Here is a statement from Mayor Sherbin Collette of Henderson.

HENDERSON DRAWDOWN

From Henderson Mayor Sherbin Collette

 

Wildlife and Fisheries is the deciding agency for drawing down Henderson Lake.

Water levels in Henderson Lake are being lowered for the yearly drawdown to a level of six (6) feet.  The reason for the drawdown is to control water hyacinth, hydrilla, and giant salvinia which is bad for the future of the lake.  In many areas of the state, drawdowns are very successful.  The drawdown began August 2nd and, if possible, will continue until November 1st.   The drawdown can only happen when river levels allow it.  We have dodged storms this year to allow this to happen.

          Keeping water levels as low as we can during hurricane season in Henderson Lake helps in preventing flooding in many places.  Working together with St. Landry, Lafayette, and Iberia parishes we have proven lowering water levels prior to storms heading our way has proven successful in the past.  As soon as we hear of a storm heading to the Gulf of Mexico we start our conference calls.  It is very important to prepare early as this has proven in the past to be very helpful.  A yearly drawdown in the lake has proven helpful in many ways.

Lawsuit Seeks Protections for Louisiana Black Bears

July 19, 2021

In an ongoing legal drive to restore Endangered Species Act protections to the iconic but star-crossed Louisiana black bear, a coalition of local and national conservationists today filed motion for summary judgement in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana.

In March 2016, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had removed the bear, known popularly as the "Teddy Bear" and scientifically as subspecies luteolus, from its List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. Amidst an outpouring of self-congratulations and publicity, joined in at the highest levels of state and national government, a great conservation victory was proclaimed. Not mentioned was that a reluctant FWS had been pressured through a decade-long battle and finally a lawsuit before listing the bear in 1992. The very same parties who led that earlier struggle are plaintiffs in the new suit.

Listing saved the bear. With protection of luteolus and its habitat, coupled with the efforts of dedicated federal and state biologists (and some continued outside prodding) bear numbers rebounded from a low of around 100 and breeding range increased. Then, FWS began a complex program that supposedly would lead to recovery of the subspecies but that is more likely to spell its doom.

FWS subsequently claimed to have met its key criteria for recovery:  two "viable" populations of luteolus connected by suitable habitat allowing the two to merge and interbreed. One such population was in the Tensas River Basin (TRB) of northeastern Louisiana, the other in the Upper Atchafalaya River Basin (UARB) in the central part of the state. "Connection" had resulted from a 2001–2009 program to artificially translocate some TRB bears to an area between the two populations, known as the Three Rivers Complex (TRC). UARB bears moved into the TRC and interbreeding began. The plan had worked!

There was only one problem.  The UARB bears were not true Louisiana luteolus. They were descended from bears of another subspecies, caught at Minnesota garbage dumps in the 1960s and brought to the UARB by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries for sport hunting. When FWS proposed delisting in May 2015, it tried to pass off the UARB bears as just another population of luteolus. 

Comments on the proposal noted that the very authorities relied upon by FWS for genetic confirmation  of viability and interbreeding had also shown that the UARB had no surviving bear population prior to the 1960s and that the bears there now were closely related to those in Minnesota. FWS then admitted as much, but suggested that the mere possibility that a few native bears had wandered into the UARB somehow converted the whole population there to luteolus. FWS has held to that absurdity, though further DNA studies have confirmed the Minnesota origin of the UARB population.

FWS has never attempted to calculate an estimate of original range and numbers. One may ask how there can be claim of recovery without any idea of what there was originally. Nonetheless, data right from documentation compiled by FWS shows former range was at least 118,000 square miles and numbers at least 80,000. That compares to about 1,800 square miles today, with approximately 296 bears in the TRB and 164 in another historic population in the Lower Atchafalaya River Basin (LARB). FWS has claimed that one more population of Louisiana black bear has been re-established in western Mississippi, but the recent DNA research shows most bears there migrated from a non-luteolus group in Arkansas. Disregarding the Mississippi, the alien UARB, and the hybridized TRC groups, the only existing true Louisiana black bear populations are those of the TRB and LARB.

Incredibly, FWS seems prepared to write off the LARB population and does not even consider it "significant." Yet it is larger than the alien UARB group and contains about a third of all true luteolus. FWS acknowledges it faces many "threats," yet argues it is not "threatened." It has been especially hard hit by the delisting, as formerly restricted commercial and agricultural activity in its habitat again is increasing. Ancient cypress and tupelo trees, ideal for bear dens, are being cut down, and danger is posed by further development and traffic along Highway 90 and future eastward extension of Interstate 49 on that same route. Loss of habitat by the LARB population and the imminent loss of genetic integrity by the TRB population are a devastating combination for the last Louisiana black bears.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association West, Sierra Club and its Delta Chapter, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Healthy Gulf, and individuals Dr. Michael J. Caire, Ronald M. Nowak, and Harold Schoeffler, the last of whom petitioned for the bear’s listing in 1987. The plaintiffs include avid hunters and fishermen who live and recreate in bear habitat, but who understand that it is not presently possible to ethically hunt the Louisiana black bear with such low numbers and substantial threats remaining.

Plaintiffs' Motion for Summary Judgment

Supporting Attachments No. 51-1

Supporting Attachments No. 51-2

Supporting Attachments No. 51-3

Supporting Attachments No. 51-4

Supporting Attachments No. 51-5

Supporting Attachments No. 51-6

Supporting Attachments No. 51-7

Supporting Attachments No. 51-8

LOUISIANA GROUPS RAISE CONCERN OVER SAFARI CLUB’S INCLUSION IN LAWSUIT TO PROTECT THE BLACK BEAR

Last fall, Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association West, Healthy Gulf, Sierra Club and its Delta Chapter, with three individual plaintiffs, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2016 decision to remove the Louisiana black bear from the U.S. List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife under the Endangered Species Act. The Plaintiffs challenge the Service’s delisting decision and finding that the bear has recovered, despite continued threats such as habitat loss and unnatural hybridization with non-native bears.

Meanwhile, Safari Club International – an international organization advocating for the right to hunt – seeks to intervene in the case to support the Service’s decision to delist the Louisiana black bear. Plaintiffs’ have opposed Safari Club’s intervention, raising concerns that potential future hunts are not at issue in this case addressing whether the agency’s delisting decision is supported by law and the best scientific data available.  Plaintiffs include individuals and organization members that are themselves avid hunters. Jody Meche, president of LCPA-West, a plaintiff organization in the case, stated: “Most of our members have been hunting and fishing in the Atchafalaya Basin since they were young; it’s part of our culture and our connection to the Basin.”

There has not been a legal hunt of black bears in Louisiana for many decades, and even since the 2016 delisting, a hunting season has not yet been opened for bears in Louisiana. Plaintiff Dr. Ron Nowak said: “The bear was listed in 1992, partly due to greatly reduced numbers from overhunting.  Listing helped it come back some, but numbers are nowhere near those in states that allow hunting of black bears.  Regardless, this case is not about hunting but about an agency ignoring both law and science to deceive the public for political proclivity."

Plaintiff Dr. Michael Caire said: “Louisiana’s sportsmen (not a gender specific word) have been at the forefront of protecting and enhancing our State’s and Nation’s wildlife resources even prior to Theodore Roosevelt becoming President. The issue is Federal mismanagement (intentional or otherwise) that threatens the integrity of the Endangered Species Act.”

Dean Wilson, executive director for Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, a plaintiff organization, said: “I find it morally repugnant that groups like Safari Club put pressure on our government to hunt species with so few individuals left. Safari Club’s interests are not compatible with the reality that still faces the bear in Louisiana today, where as few as 500 individuals may remain and face threats to their survival. I believe in ethical and sustainable hunting, and I hope that this case will result in adequate protection and management of the bear to allow its population numbers to grow to support possible hunting in the future. But we’re not there yet.”

Motion to Intervene of Safari Club International

Memorandum in support of Safari Clun International’s Motion to Intervene

Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Opposition

More information on the Black Bear Litigation

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Coon Trap

Coon Trap is closed! This is a victory decades on the making. Coon Trap is a river diversion into the Basin's lakes, bayous and wetlands that over the last 30 years has caused more damage to the Basin than any other single project. Sand coming from Coon Trap has filled Bee Bayou, Flat Lake Pass, much of Keelboat Pass, Lake Murphy, and huge amounts of wetlands. Coon Trap has also severely impaired East Grand Lake and would have eventually destroyed the lake.

ABK and LCPA-West's complaints about Coon Trap went as high up as the Mississippi River Commission and the top general for Mississippi Valley Division.

We want to thank anyone from the Corps that made this possible. This video was made on top of the Coon Trap closure structure one day after its completion. 

Dean Wilson and Tommy (TeeCoon) Ashley at the Coon Trap site

Grand Lake - Remand Granted!

October 3, 2020

Braking news! In response to our lawsuit challenging the Atchafalaya Basin Program Grand Lake permit, the Corps withdrew their motion to dismiss our lawsuit and filed a motion for voluntary remand the permit. The remand was granted by the judge. What does that mean? A new permit will be properly posted for public comment, opening the door for us to work with CPRA and the Corps to find a way to do the project right and fully restore the lake. Click the links below for the official documents.

Notice to Withdraw

Remand Motion

Order for Remand Granted

Lawsuit Seeks Protections for Louisiana Black Bears Fewer than 500 “Teddy Bears” May Exist as Recovery Efforts Falter

Washington, DC — In an effort to restore protections to the beleaguered Louisiana black bear, a lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. The suit seeks to return the bear to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, from which it was removed in March 2016.

The Louisiana black bear (Ursus americanus luteolus) is one of 16 subspecies of the American black bear. It is often referred to as “Teddy’s Bear,” because President Theodore Roosevelt once famously refused to shoot one that had been tied to a tree, saying it would not be sporting. 

The lawsuit disputes the FWS claim of “recovery” for the Louisiana black bear. The agency admits that as few as 500 of the bears may survive today. But even that number includes bears that do not belong to the native subspecies but to an alien population descended from bears brought down from Minnesota in the 1960s for sport hunting purposes or are hybrids between the native and alien groups. The suit attacks the FWS attempts to pass off these other animals as true Louisiana black bears as its rationale for contending that recovery goals had been met for this unique subspecies. 

Today, the Louisiana black bear has lost 99% of its historic population and more than 97% of its historic range. At least 80,000 Louisiana black bears once inhabited an area of at least 120,000 square miles, covering all of Louisiana, much of Mississippi, eastern Texas, and southern Arkansas.  Today, the remaining animals reside on just 2,800 square miles and are split mainly into three widely separated populations, with the native subspecies occurring in the Tensas River Basin and Lower Atchafalaya River Basin, and the alien group in the Upper Atchafalaya River Basin; some also live in western Mississippi. 

Bringing the lawsuit are Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, Louisiana Crawfish Producers Association West, Sierra Club and its Delta Chapter, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Healthy Gulf, and individual plaintiffs Ronald M. Nowak, Harold Schoeffler, and Dr. Michael J. Caire. A previous suit was dismissed earlier this year on technical grounds. The groups and individuals filing suit today have advocated for the bear for decades; Harold Schoeffler petitioned for the bear’s listing over 30 years ago in 1987

Besides hybridization, the Louisiana black bear faces loss of remaining habitat and isolation of the coastal population attributable to further development along Highway 90 and future eastward extension of Interstate 49 down that same route. In addition, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries is exploring the possibility of resuming bear hunts. Notably, the Safari Club intervened in the prior suit to support the delisting and will likely do so again to preserve the option of opening a hunting season for the bear, a possibility which would be precluded by relisting the bear under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

The plaintiffs filing suit today include avid hunters and fishermen who live and recreate in bear habitat, and who understand that with present low population numbers, each individual bear remains critical to the survival of the subspecies. These groups and individuals support ethical hunting of wildlife, but recognize that it is not presently possible to ethically hunt the Louisiana black bear with such low numbers and substantial threats remaining. Only through proper management and protection under the ESA will the bear ever reach sufficient numbers to support a future hunt.

Read the complaint 

View quotes from plaintiffs 

See FWS admission that there may be as few as 500 Louisiana black bears left

Contact:  Dean Wilson, Atchafalaya Basinkeeper (225) 692-4114, enapay3@aol.com 

Ron Nowak, (703) 237-6676, ron4nowak@cs.com 
Kirsten Stade, PEER, kstade@peer.org 

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As Covid 19 is ravaging through our communities, the threats to the Atchafalaya Basin continues, with a renewed furry and trying to take advantage of situation.  ABK  continues fighting, undeterred to meet those threats, for our communities, our members, the birds and animals that depend on the Basin and our children, grandchildren and generations to come.

As we continue to socially isolate amidst the health crisis, it is critical we all stay informed.  This newsletter contains NEWS and information of the work we have been doing in 2020 along with UPCOMING information.

NEWS

EPA –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suspended enforcement of our environmental laws. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse, the decision is right in line with the agency’s nearly four years of giveaways to corporate polluters and weakening environmental regulations. Amid this horrible crisis, we are now at the mercy of large corporations on the amount of toxic pollutants that we and our children will be exposed through the air we breathe, the fish we eat and the water we drink. Pollution enforcement is now more than ever on the shoulders of groups like ABK. EPA SUSPENDS ENFORCEMENT

ABK signs on Letter to CEQ against Proposed NEPA Rollbacks - 

Atchafalaya Basinkeeper along with  330 conservation, health, and justice organizations and businesses signed on to the letter opposing the proposal to massively roll back critical protections provided by the National Environmental Policy Act. This letter urges the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) to withdraw its attack on NEPA and fulfill its mission to ensure that federal agencies protect the environment support public health and prevent wasteful spending.  Read More under News May 22, 2020

East Grand Lake Project- The biggest threat to the Atchafalaya Basin is sedimentation. The biggest contributor to this threat is by far, government funded river diversion projects designed to fill those wetlands with sand and silt to benefit a hand full of corporate landowners/waterbottom claimants under the disguise of “water quality projects”. The Buffalo Cove and Beau Bayou Projects have already devastated huge amount of wetlands, lakes and bayous. The EGL project will be another project that will destroy huge amounts of wetlands.

From Dr. Ivor Van Heerden report: So, this EGL project, in just a four-month flood based on 2011 data (Welch et al, 2014) covers 1188 acres with at least 4 inches of sediment, and this is a very conservative estimate. If you review Table 3 (Stations 10 and 11) you will see that the suspended sediment loads measured during the 2011 flood were well below the median of the historical data.”  See van Heerden Expert Report page 12.(link below)

ABK is making a priority to stop this project. So far, we have sent 1 comment letter to the Corps and two comment letters to the Atchafalaya Basin Program under Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. 

We recently obtained 1979 EPA report that warns the state and the Corps against such projects and the threat they pose to swamps and the Basin flood capacity.  ABK has sent this report and additional comments to Corp and CPRA on 4/27/20.

 For all documents associated with the EGL Project including, Dr. Ivor Van Heerden’s report and response to SIGMA, please visit https://www.basinkeeper.org/east-grand-lake

Eminent domain case update -  because the three judge panel that heard our arguments on appeal has resulted in two-judges on our side and one against us our case is now scheduled to go before a five-judge panel in the court of appeal for the Third Circuit in Lake Charles.


"Check out this article to learn more about our efforts to hold Bayou Bridge Pipeline, a multi-billion dollar for-profit company, accountable under the law for months of flagrant trespass on the property of another, and to protect the rights of all Louisianans to property and a healthy environment. ABK continues to protect YOUR rights to a healthy environment, and to the constitutional freedoms fundamental to our nation and our state.  Article

Court filings – Grand Lake - Represented by the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic, Atchafalaya Basinkeeper, LCPA-West and Healthy Gulf yesterday filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, challenging their permit for the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources’ Grand Lake Restoration Project. The original permit, that we supported, was posted for public notice for the removal of a 17-acre island in Grand Lake. The island was created in 2011 when a plug on a pipeline owned by Enterprise failed, allowing river water full of sand from the Atchafalaya River to move into Grand Lake. LDNR proposed to suction-dredge the island and dump it into the river to be carried by the river to the coast. LDNR then changed the permit after the public comment period to instead use the dredged material to backfill the Enterprise pipeline canal, protecting for free their exposed pipeline and creating an ecological nightmare, since much of the liquid sand from the dredging filled Schwing Chute and adjacent wetlands or flowed back into Grand Lake. 

To read more and see the documents/photos associated with the case click here.

To see our monitoring trip to inspect the reported dike breech click here.

UPCOMING


Website –  We will be updating our website, to provide more information and documentation to empower our members with knowledge.  Please check back frequently for the latest news and updates. basinkeeper.org

ABK Member Meetings- One of the goals this year was to establish member meetings in areas surrounding the Atchafalaya Basin.  With the shutdown, we are looking to find new ways to have membership meetings.  If you or someone you know would be interested in being a part of the Meeting Committee in your area, Please give me a call and let’s get started.  Monica Fisher 225-685--9439

Volunteer Opportunities – We love our Volunteers!! 

July, October and December we do our Mail Outs.  This is fun and filling, as Dean cooks fried fish and shrimp while we get to catch up with one another. 

January is our Save the Basin Event, there are many great ways to get involved, staffing, pre event organization, music, photography.

Though out the year there are volunteer opportunities for website help, Facebook and Instagram postings, Basin monitoring photography and film making, and soon for the ABK member meetings.

“Navigable Waters Protection Rule.”

A coalition of 17 states has sued EPA over recently published “Navigable Waters Protection Rule.”  This reckless rollback ignores science, taking too many wetlands and other important waterways out of Clean Water Act jurisdiction, putting public health at risk. At a time when we need being healthy more than ever before, protecting the public from toxic pollutants should be a priority instead of weakening our environmental protections. Among many other things, these roll backs would make it impossible for groups like Atchafalaya Basinkeeper to protect isolated wetlands from being developed or from becoming toxic waste sites.

COMPLAINT FOR DECLARATORY AND INJUNCTIVE RELIEF

SUPREME COURT LEAVES THE CLEAN WATER ACT INTACT

What a victory for our planet! The Clean Water Act was recently gutted, under the new guidelines, groundwater, ditches, intermittent streams and isolated wetlands lost all Clean Water Act protections. Also under the new guidelines isolated wetlands could be filled and developed without a permit. Thanks to our friends at Earthjustice, a ruling by the Supreme Court left the Clean Water Act intact and we are back on business protecting wetlands and stopping pollution.

Like our friend and volunteer Kim put it "Happy Earth Day indeed!

APRIL 23, 2020

Victory: Court decision leaves in place vital protections for the nation’s oceans, rivers, lakes

Washington, D.C. — 

Today the Supreme Court issued its opinion in County of Maui v. Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund siding with clean water advocates that point source discharges to navigable waters through groundwater are regulated under the Clean Water Act. 

The following is a statement from David Henkin, Earthjustice attorney who argued the case defending clean water:

“This decision is a huge victory for clean water. The Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s effort to blow a big hole in the Clean Water Act’s protections for rivers, lakes, and oceans.

Full Article

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