CRCL plants thousands of shrubs on Terrebonne Parish terraces

Lake Boudreaux project made possible by CPRA partnership fund

NOVEMBER 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, working with about two dozen volunteers, has planted 4,000 shrubs on terraces in Terrebonne Parish. The Lake Boudreaux vegetative planting project, which was funded by the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority FY24 Conservation and Restoration Partnership Fund and a grant through TC Energy, was implemented in partnership with the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw.

Lake Boudreaux is a large shallow lake between Dulac and Chauvin in south Terrebonne Parish. A site visit this fall after the planting showed widespread survival and growth of the Baccharis and marsh elder.

“We are really happy with the project, which was a new concept for us,” said Andrew Ferris, CRCL’s Native Plants Program senior coordinator. “We were excited to see that the plants took to the drier soils of the terraces so well. We would love to replicate this project at other sites. Terraces are a great form of coastal protection, and adding plants to them adds to their effectiveness.”

The 21 terraces were built by the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government. Earthen terraces reduce wave energy, help sediment accumulate and minimize storm surge. The vegetative planting project proposal was developed in cooperation with the parish and landowner Apache Louisiana Minerals LLC.

For more than 35 years, CRCL has advocated for policies to restore and protect the state’s coast, where about 2,000 square miles of wetlands have vanished in less than a century. Through its Oyster Shell Recycling Program, CRCL has recycled more than 15 million pounds of shell, keeping it out of landfills and using it instead to build reefs that create habitat for new oysters and that slow the rate of land loss.

The organization has planted more than 1 million trees and plants across Louisiana’s coast through its Native Plants Program. CRCL also hosts the biennial State of the Coast conference, holds talks as part of its CRCLectures series, and educates people through its Future Coastal Leaders program and Coastal Leadership Institute.

This fall, CRCL is continuing its partnership with the Grand Caillou/Dulac Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw, building an oyster reef at LUMCON in Cocodrie using shell recycled by New Orleans and Baton Rouge restaurants.

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The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to unite people in action to achieve a thriving, sustainable Louisiana coast for all.