Supporting coastal resilience in Southern Louisiana

The marine environment of the southern coast of Louisiana in the United States —including its coastal wetlands, marshes, and barrier islands—plays a vital role in supporting diverse plant and animal species while helping protect local communities from storms, flooding, and land loss.

These valuable habitats continue, however, to face increasing pressure from coastal erosion.

In the state’s Bayou region, Woodside is working in collaboration with three conservation groups Ducks Unlimited, Restore or Retreat, and the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana (CCA LA) on five coastal resilience programs. These programs aim to restore, stabilise, and preserve the region’s coastlines and marine ecosystems.

In early 2025 Duncan’s Reef, the largest project to date under CCA’s REEF Louisiana program, was completed. The reef features 850 Cajun Coral structures designed to create essential habitat for marine life, enhance biodiversity and reinforce Louisiana’s fishing grounds.

Nearby, the Port Fourchon Terracing and Living Shoreline Project – delivered in collaboration with Restore or Retreat – has contributed to the return of bird species not seen in the area for many years, following the project’s restoration efforts from Phase 1.

“From our follow up visits in June 2025 for data collection, we were able to observe the return of the Least Terns (Sternula antillarum). This marks the first time in 11 years these particular birds have been seen in South Lafourche, Louisiana” said Polly Glover, Program Coordinator, Restore or Retreat.

“This indicates that the project's primary goals of restoring the heavily degraded wetlands to increase biodiversity have in fact worked.”

Complementing this work, the construction of 27,000 metres of earthen terraces as part of the Port Fourchon Marsh Terraces Project (Phase 2) with Ducks Unlimited further strengthened habitat resilience.

Protecting the Fourchon area is particularly important as it includes the Louisiana Highway 1, a primary access route for residents and businesses located in the Fourchon and Grand Isle areas.

“This project incorporates both a well-established restoration technique involving earthen terraces and an innovative approach featuring a nature-based ‘living shoreline’ known as Cajun Coral,” said Andi Cooper, Director of Foundation Relations at Ducks Unlimited.

“Earthen terraces have served as a reliable coastal restoration method in Louisiana since the 1990s. While specific metrics for this project are still being collected, I’m excited to share that just a couple months after construction of Phase 1, we are already starting to see the early colonization of the Cajun Coral.”

In contrast to traditional concrete seawalls, the living shorelines offer habitat for marine organisms and function as effective oyster reefs. Collectively, these terraces and the living shoreline are designed to promote marsh development, enhance biodiversity and help safeguard the community against storm-related events.