Irish Bayou Living Shoreline
The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA), with community engagement support from the City of New Orleans, is advancing the design of a living shoreline along Irish Bayou with funding from the National Coastal Resilience Fund.
The proposed Irish Bayou Living Shoreline project is located in northeast Orleans Parish on and adjacent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge.
The first public meeting was held on August 11, 2025.
At the meeting, CPRA staff described the proposed project design and provided ample time for stakeholders to comment on the project. The input from attendees was invaluable.
Click on the link below to view the meeting presentation:
Stay tuned for the next public meeting date, time and place. Email ors@nola.gov if you'd like to be contacted about the next meeting.
What is a Living Shoreline?
Living shorelines use native vegetation alone or in combination with low sills to stabilize the shoreline. Living shorelines provide a natural alternative to ‘hard” shoreline stabilization methods like rip rap or bulkheads, and provide numerous benefits including water quality improvements, carbon dioxide absorption, promotion of essential fish habitat, and buffering of shorelines from waves and storms. Research indicates that living shorelines are more resilient than bulkheads in protecting against the effects of hurricanes.
Project Description
The proposed Irish Bayou Living Shoreline project may incorporate features such as rubble mounds, rock dikes and reventments on approximately 1.8 miles of shoreline that will limit impacts from waves to significantly reduce vegetation loss, buffer against storm events, trap and retain sediment and create habitat that supports local fish and wildlife.
Issues Addressed
This project will address the challenge of wetland loss from coastal erosion for the communities of New Orleans East and Irish Bayou. The Bayou Sauvage Urban National Wildlife Refuge in Orleans Parish, Louisiana is one of the last remaining marsh areas adjacent to Lakes Pontchartrain and Borgne. Managed by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), a project partner, the refuge contains a variety of wildlife habitats — including patches of bottomland hardwood forest, freshwater, brackish and estuarine tidal marshes, lagoons, canals, and natural bayous.
This marsh habitat is a natural storm surge buffer for the communities of New Orleans East and Irish Bayou, and protects critical infrastructure, including Interstate 10, US Highway 11, and two Class I rail lines. Shoreline retreat and coastal erosion in this area pose a threat to this transportation infrastructure, as this area is vulnerable to flooding from coastal storms and high-water events.