Jason N. Day’s research while affiliated with Louisiana State University and other places

The Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, located along the Chenier Plain in Southwest Louisiana, was the location of the sequential landfall of two major hurricanes in the 2020 hurricane season. To protect the rapidly retreating coastline along the Refuge, a system of breakwaters was constructed, which was partially completed by the 2020 hurricane season. Multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary rapid response deployments of wave gauges, piezometers, geotechnical measurements, vegetation sampling, and drone surveys were conducted before and after Hurricanes Laura and Delta along two transects in the Refuge; one protected by a breakwater system and one which was the natural, unprotected shoreline. Geomorphological changes were similar on both transects after Hurricane Laura, while after Delta there was higher inland sediment deposition on the natural shoreline. Floodwaters drained from the transect with breakwater protection more slowly than the natural shoreline, though topography profiles are similar, indicating a potential dampening or complex hydrodynamic interactions between the sediment—wetland—breakwater system. In addition, observations of a fluidized mud deposit in Rollover Bayou in the Refuge are presented and discussed in context of the maintenance of wetland elevation and stability in the sediment starved Chenier Plain.

The State of Louisiana is leading an integrated wetland restoration and flood risk reduction program in the Mississippi River Delta. East of New Orleans, Biloxi Marsh, a ~1700 km2 peninsula jutting 60 km north toward the State of Mississippi is one of few Delta wetland tracts well positioned to dissipate hurricane surge and waves threatening the city’s newly rebuilt hurricane flood defenses. Both its location on the eastern margin of the Delta, and its genesis as the geologic core of the shallow water St. Bernard/Terre aux Boeuf sub-delta, which was the primary Mississippi outlet for almost 2000 years, make Biloxi Marsh attractive for restoration, now that the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet deep-draft ship channel has been dammed, and 50 years of impacts from construction and operation have abated. Now, the cascade of ecosystem damage it caused can be reversed or offset by restoration projects that leverage natural recovery and increased access to suspended sediment from the Mississippi River. Biloxi Marsh is (1) geologically stable, (2) benefiting from increased input of river sediment, and (3) could be restored to sustainability earlier and for a longer period than most of the rest of the submerging Mississippi Delta. The focus of this review is on the Biloxi Marsh, but it also provides a template for regional studies, including analysis of 2D and 3D seismic and other energy industry data to explore why existing marshes that look similar on the ground or from the air may respond to restoration measures with different levels of success. Properties of inherent durability and resilience can be exploited in restoration project selection, sequencing and expenditure. Issues encountered and investigative methods applied in the Biloxi Marsh are likely to resonate across initiatives now contemplated to sustain valuable river deltas worldwide.

The term ‘assimilation wetland’ has been applied to natural wetlands in Louisiana into which disinfected, secondarily treated municipal effluent is discharged with the dual purpose of improving regional water quality and enhancing vegetation productivity and soil accretion. Some municipalities began discharging treated effluent into wetlands prior to state regulations, which began in 1992. Here we review data and observations from five assimilation wetlands in the Mississippi River Delta receiving discharge of treated effluent for 26–70 years. In addition, we examine two adjacent forested wetlands, one that receives periodic Mississippi River input and one that does not. Information from these sites provides insight into how long-term nutrient input impacts coastal wetlands. Analysis of tree-ring, leaf litter, accretion, and water quality data shows that input of freshwater containing nutrients and sediments leads to enhanced wetland productivity and soil accretion via increased organic matter burial. In addition, long-term data indicate that assimilation wetlands continue to be nutrient sinks even after decades of effluent discharge, with both nitrogen and phosphorus reduced to background levels. Collectively, these data demonstrate that wetlands benefit from long-term discharge of treated municipal effluent. Properly managed wetland assimilation systems can function for long periods and lead to enhancement of degrading wetland communities in coastal Louisiana.

A nutrient-loading mesocosm study was conducted on baldcypress (Taxodium distichum) and water tupelo (Nyssa aquatica) seedlings and a field study was conducted on baldcypress seedling diameter increase at five assimilation wetlands. Nitrogen additions ranged from 0 to 400 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹. Dependent variables included above- and belowground biomass production, root to shoot ratio, and wood density. Aboveground biomass production increased steadily to the 400 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹ loading rate for both species, whereas belowground biomass production and root to shoot ratio increased to the 100 g N m⁻² yr⁻¹ loading rate then decreased slightly. Wood density for N. aquatica was higher than T. distichum and wood density for both species was largely unaffected by nutrient loading rate. Diameter increase for seedlings in the five assimilation wetlands averaged from 1.1 to 2.5 cm yr⁻¹ and was about ten times higher at all sites than that of nearby natural swamps. In all, high rates of nutrient loading did not negatively affect growth of either species.

An assimilation wetland is a natural (non-constructed) wetland into which secondarily-treated, disinfected, non-toxic municipal effluent is discharged. In the Mississippi River Delta, the wetland is typically either a freshwater forested wetland (e.g., baldcypress-water tupelo) or a freshwater emergent wetland. These wetlands have been hydrology altered, some extensively, with freshwater input reduced from historical norms. Discharge of freshwater effluent with nutrients and suspended sediments into an assimilation wetland increases vegetation productivity and accretion and combats subsidence. Effluent discharge rate into an assimilation wetland depends on wetland size and effluent nutrient concentrations. Design and construction of an assimilation wetland requires a Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (LDNR) Coastal Use Permit (CUP), a Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) Louisiana Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (LPDES) permit, a US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) 404 permit, and an LDEQ Water Quality Certification, along with potential levee board permit applications. Both a feasibility study and an ecological baseline study are conducted before discharge of treated effluent begins. Assimilation wetlands are designed with a minimum of four monitoring sites; three located along a transect from the discharge to the area where surface water leaves the wetland, and the fourth, a reference area, located in an ecologically similar wetland nearby. As part of the LDEQ LPDES permit, study sites within an assimilation wetland are monitored continually for the life of the project, including vegetation productivity and species composition, sediment accretion, hydrology, and surface water nutrient and metals concentrations. There are ten active assimilation wetlands in coastal Louisiana and another four with permit applications pending. Results of annual monitoring show nutrient concentrations of surface waters decrease with distance, reaching background levels before water leaves the wetland. While nutrient concentrations decrease, vegetative productivity is enhanced. In degraded forested wetlands being used as assimilation wetlands, baldcypress and water tupelo seedlings are often planted, which thrive in the nutrient rich environment. However, nutria are attracted to vegetation with increased nutrient concentrations, and herbivory severely damaged one emergent wetland receiving municipal effluent, killing both herbaceous vegetation and unprotected tree seedlings. After culling of nutria, the wetland recovered. This introduced species must be monitored and controlled in any assimilation wetland. Here we review the history of assimilation wetlands in the Mississippi River Delta to show how advances in scientific understanding, growing regulatory sophistication, and controversy have shaped this program.

The Central Wetlands Unit (CWU), covering 12,000 hectares in St. Bernard and Orleans Parishes, Louisiana, was once a healthy baldcypress-water tupelo swamp and fresh and low salinity marsh before construction of levees isolated the region from Mississippi River floodwaters. Construction of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet (MRGO), which funneled saltwater inland from the Gulf of Mexico, resulted in a drastic ecosystem change and caused mortality of almost all trees and low salinity marsh, but closure of the MRGO has led to decreases in soil and surface water salinity. Currently, the area is open water, brackish marsh, and remnant baldcypress stands. We measured hydrology, soils, water and sediment chemistry, vegetation composition and productivity, accretion, and soil strength to determine relative health of the wetlands. Vegetation species richness is low and above- and belowground biomass is up to 50% lower than a healthy marsh. Soil strength and bulk density are low over much of the area. A baldcypress wetland remains near a stormwater pumping station that also has received treated municipal effluent for about four decades. Based on the current health of the CWU, three restoration approaches are recommended, including: (1) mineral sediment input to increase elevation and soil strength; (2) nutrient-rich fresh water to increase productivity and buffer salinity; and (3) planting of freshwater forests, along with fresh and low salinity herbaceous vegetation.

The East Joyce Wetlands (EJW) bordering northwest Lake Pontchartrain have a long history of human induced changes, such as leveeing of the Mississippi River that eliminated almost all riverine input to the area and segmentation of the east and west Joyce wetlands by the construction of a railroad, U.S. highway 51, and Interstate 55. Dredged drainage canals and associated spoil banks channel upland runoff around the wetlands. The deep canal associated with I-55 causes both rapid short-circuiting of freshwater runoff to Lake Maurepas and saltwater intrusion from Lake Pontchartrain. Increasing soil salinity has caused wide-spread loss of forested wetlands in the areas. Recently, the discharge of secondarily treated municipal effluent into the northeastern EJW as part of the Hammond wetland assimilation project has focused attention on the area (i.e., Bodker et al., 2015). In response, we carried out a number of studies at the Hammond Assimilation Wetlands (HAW) detailed in Shaffer et al. (2015), as well as a series of hydrological measurements and modeling detailed here. These data show that drainage under the railroad was minimal and most flow through the wetlands was to the southeast. Water levels in the HAW were highly variable prior to the beginning of effluent discharge in 2006, with relatively high mean water levels that did not increase substantially from 2007 through summer 2009 despite the addition of municipal effluent. Following effluent addition, surface water levels lacked the variability of the pre-discharge period and mean water levels were about 20cm higher from late 2009 until 2014 due to high rainfall in 2009, 2012, and 2013 and high effluent inflow due to significant infiltration into the city collection system. Historical net watershed inputs averaged 2.69cmyr-1 if this volume of water were spread over the 4km2 area immediately south of the effluent distribution system, compared to 0.38cmyr-1 for the effluent and 0.13cmyr-1 for direct precipitation. Salinity records from five sites in the EJW showed a gradient of increasing salinity from north to south and strong seasonality, averaging 1.9-2.1 PSU near the lake to 0.4-0.6 PSU in the northwestern EJW. Peak salinities were 4.6-5.1 PSU near the lake and 1.8 PSU in northwestern EJW. There was also a significant decrease in salinity over time. Salinity was lower beginning in 2010 coinciding with the closure of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, high precipitation in the fall and winter of 2009, and in 2012 and 2013, and continuing operation of the assimilation system. Proposed plans to alternate effluent discharge between east and west Joyce wetlands should increase surface water depth variability as seen prior to effluent discharge and minimize salinity intrusion in both areas.

We investigated two adjacent wetlands in the Lake Pontchartrain basin, one of which receives periodic input of Mississippi River water and one which does not, to gain insight into how isolation from river input impacts wetland loss in the Mississippi delta. The LaBranche (LB) wetlands bordering Lake Pontchartrain are severely degraded due to saltwater intrusion, subsidence, leveeing of the river, and hydrologic alterations including partial impoundment. Directly adjacent is the Bonnet Carré (BC) spillway, a geomorphically similar area that contains healthy baldcypress swamp. The spillway carries river water to the lake during high discharge years and has been opened eleven times in 80 years, with flows as high as 9000 m3 s−1. The primary hydrologic difference between the two areas is the regular input of River water to the BC wetlands while the LB wetlands are isolated from the river. The interior of the LB wetlands is also isolated from sediment originating from Lake Pontchartrain. Long-term accretion, tree growth, and elevation were measured in these two wetland areas to determine impacts of riverine input. 137Cs accretion rates in the BC wetlands were 2.6–2.7 cm yr−1, compared to 0.43 and 1.4 cm yr−1, respectively, in the LB wetlands in areas without and with sediment input from Lake Pontchartrain. Baldypress growth in the BC averaged about 2.3 mm ring width yr−1, compared to 1.4 mm yr−1 in LB. Trees are of relatively the same age due to lack of recruitment and widespread logging. Tree height, an indicator of site quality, is about 20% less at the LB sites compared to BC, even though the trees are approximately the same ages. The average wetland elevation in the BC wetlands was about one meter with some areas higher than two meters, and was significantly higher than elevations in the LB (average sea level and 0.3 m, respectively, in areas with and without input from Lake Pontchartrain).