The Water Institute

Calling all storytellers with a passion for science. Come and join an awesome team! Apply at the link below ⬇️

https://ow.ly/qPq150SICRi

A thoughtful piece in The New York Times this week unpacking some nuances of sand management on beaches in a changing climate. In the face of increased competing interests, science-based decisions will be crucial for coastal communities to adapt and thrive in the 21st century.

Opinion | The Beaches of the Future Are Going to Surprise Us (Gift Article) Replenishing sand is likely to become economically untenable and logistically impractical. But that doesn’t spell the end of beaches.

We are hiring a Wildlife Ecologist/Biologist in Baton Rouge, LA!

Join The Water Institute team to support vital wildlife monitoring and management for birds, marine mammals, and amphibians. More info and application at the link below.

https://tinyurl.com/webtwi

ICYMI: After a year of gathering input and talking with an amazing network of people and groups dedicated to working with Gulf Coast communities to improve resilience, the Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute released its 2024-2027 Strategic Plan outlining four focus areas of the Center. Read the plan here https://lnkd.in/gHy7y4cu

New to the Avian Data Monitoring Portal? Check out a quick and easy walkthrough to get you started. https://ow.ly/AZ2g50SzYqU

More information and link to the portal here https://ow.ly/N2z250QsCap

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

Like many coastal areas along the Gulf of Mexico, northwest Florida has been experiencing flooding exacerbated by sea level rise, as well as tropical storms, heavy rainfall events, and man-made impediments that are becoming more frequent and severe.

Proud of our work with Seaside Institute exploring ways public-private partnerships can advance community resilience in Walton County, FL. https://ow.ly/7bCo50SyWxt

There is an amazing network of people and groups who are working to make communities along the Gulf Coast more resilient in the face of environmental and social challenges. That’s why the Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute has spent the last year talking and working with a wide range of these groups to determine what is already being done to help and where gaps still exist in order to support and advance, not duplicate, great work being done around the Gulf.

The team gathered this work into a 2024-2027 Strategic Plan which outlines four focus areas of the Center. Read the plan here https://thewaterinstitute.org/projects/center

Coastal barrier systems worldwide are changing in response to sea level rise, experiencing erosion, landward retreat, enlargement of tidal inlets, and changes in the carbon budgets of their proximal tidal marshes. Knowing the volume of organic and inorganic sediment exchanged through the inlets helps ground truth computer models and quantify water, sediment, and carbon fluxes.

Last week, Institute's Ioannis Georgiou joined Dr. Chris Hein and Mary Bryan Barksdale, Virginia Institute of Marine Science doing fieldwork on a collaborative project to better understand how sediment moves through inlets south of the NASA Wallops Island Flight Facility.

Nothing like a Louisiana summer fieldwork day (hint: the temperature is around "surface of the sun" hot with a bit more humidity).

But it’s fun! Institute team has been out and about lately working with NOAA on the monitoring of swimming critters (nekton) in Barataria Basin.

A big thank you to 2024 Governor’s Fellows Program in Louisiana Government for learning a little more about Louisiana’s coastal challenges during their visits to LSU Center for River Studies, CPRA, and the Institute. Great group! Read more about the program here https://ow.ly/ZZxi50Su2UJ

Sand is a scarce and vital resource that is critical to ensuring sustainable and resilient communities.

Sustainable Sand Stewardship at The Water Institute works across disciplines to develop sustainable management practices for the future. https://ow.ly/GEN750Sr4lg

Thank you to Baton Rouge Bar Association's Baton Rouge Lawyer publication for the great feature about The Water Institute’s General Counsel and Legal Policy Researcher Valerie Black. Check it out on page 20 here https://ow.ly/o2LJ50Ss2gL

Sand is needed for all kinds of restoration efforts from barrier islands to beaches, but it can be tough to find sources.

Sustainable Sand Stewardship at The Water Institute brings together researchers across disciplines to locate and quantify this important resource.
https://ow.ly/f2vV50Sr6ns

Today, Reggie Dupre, executive director of the Terrebonne Levee and Conservation District, was honored with the R. King Milling Distinguished Coastal Service Award. Thank you so much for your coastal leadership!

The RESTORE Act Center of Excellence for Louisiana has announced the third round of two-year research grants to directly support planning and implementation of Louisiana’s Coastal Master Plan. Congratulations to the awardees and thank you to all who applied! https://ow.ly/MvXp50SoB3G
LSU, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LSU AgCenter, University of New Orleans, Nicholls State University, Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Comite Resources, Chenier Environmental Consulting

Through support from ExxonMobil Baton Rouge and Pisces Foundation, the Ripple Effect and the Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute brought together education professionals for a day long Louisiana Environmental Education Collective Impact Convening. Participants brainstormed and built consensus around ways to increase the quality and quantity of environmental education for public school students.

If you’re wondering how to use the Avian Data Monitoring Portal to track birds along the Gulf over the past 10 years, you’re in the right place. Join Dr. Jessica Henkel for a quick, 6 minute overview of how to navigate the dashboard!

Thank you to our partners at Colibri Ecological Consulting, R.G. Ford Consulting Company, Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Avian Data Monitoring Portal Walkthrough ABOUT THE PROJECT:AvianMonitoring.com Starting in 2010, Colibri Ecological Consulting, a partner with the Deepwater Horizon Regionwide TIG, began collecting...

Renee Collini, director of the Community Resilience Center at The Water Institute, gave a great talk about “The Science of Climate Change and its Impacts in Coastal Mississippi,” during the HUD Climate Resilience Symposium today in Jackson, Miss.
https://ow.ly/xnOc50Sl65s

Barrier islands are more than just piles of sand.

Surrounding seagrass provides important habitat which is why the Institute is working with state, federal, and university partners to enhance seagrass as part of ongoing Chandeleur Islands restoration. Read more here https://ow.ly/rBUh50Qq568

As coastal areas face greater risk from flooding, nature-based solutions are gaining traction as an important way to mitigate this risk.

A new paper from researchers at The University of Alabama, The Water Institute, The University of Georgia College of Engineering, and K.N. Toosi University of Technology examines research gaps in building nature-based solutions to address compound flooding risks.
https://ow.ly/9P1Y50SgZTA

Going to be a great talk this Friday at the Baton Rouge Geological Society featuring the Institute’s Mike Miner.

Congratulations to Joseph Hankerson, Andrew Courtois, and Rob Hollis on their recent promotions!

Institute's Katya Wowk, senior social scientist, and Jessica Henkel, director of research operations, facilitated a workshop on "Integrating Public Data Systems and Social Determinants of Health in Coastal Texas At-Risk Neighborhoods" today as part of a Nueces, TX county workshop for county and city officials and public and private health service providers (e.g., hospitals, community health centers, health insurance). The project, funded by National Academies Gulf Research Program and RWJFoundation, is working to find solutions to integrating data on social determinants of health with climate and environmental data and health data systems to address disparities in at-risk neighborhoods.

New story out about Chandeleur Islands with Institute's Director of Applied Geosciences Mike Miner.
https://www.wlox.com/2024/06/10/chandeleur-islands-be-submerged-20-years-if-restoration-efforts-fall-short-experts-say/
WLOX-TV

Chandeleur Islands to be submerged in 20 years if restoration efforts fall short, experts say The Louisiana island chain is in danger of being totally submerged in 20 years if their efforts are not successful, one of the experts told WLOX News.

Great trip to Grand Isle where the team is using GPS-enabled video cameras to precisely locate and catalogue areas of concern and value pointed out by residents, including local surfers. The local and traditional knowledge collected through these "spatial video geonarratives" will help inform ongoing evaluations of how barrier islands and barrier shoreline are reacting to restoration

Groundwater that serves the greater Baton Rouge, La. area is impacted by the leaky barriers of the Baton Rouge and the Denham-Springs Scotlandville fault. As part of a larger effort to sustainably manage this important water source, researchers at LSU and the Institute collaborated on using a new method to model how these two faults impact the aquifer’s flow.

New paper from LSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's Aya Mohamed, Shuo Yang, Ye-Hong Chen, Frank Tsai, and Institute’s Alyssa Dausman out now in Journal of Hydrology.

https://ow.ly/jsFZ50Sa5bj

Come join a great team! We’re looking for two social scientists who love community-based research. More information and how to apply here https://ow.ly/pktF50S9582

“On Our Watch” episode featuring the Institute’s Jessica Henkel, Deputy Director to the Chief Scientist/Director of the RESTORE Act Center of Excellence for Louisiana.

Check it out here https://youtu.be/cxls9116iLY?si=9fAOyJOLzJl6kVJ4 or here https://onourwatch.podbean.com/ or on Apple Podcasts here https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/on-our-watch/id1706869164?i=1000649048440

Jessica talks about her work at the Institute, the Avian Data Monitoring Portal release, and how structured decision-making process can be used to navigate complicated resource management and policy needs.

Join us in congratulating Eva Windhoffer and Erin Kiskaddon on their promotions!