A dying Louisiana swamp will get a burst of new life

Zoom in: Federal, state and local authorities broke ground last week on the River Reintroduction into Maurepas Swamp Project, which will bring freshwater, sediment and nutrients back to Louisiana's largest and last remaining coastal freshwater swamp, a press release says.

What they're saying: "The Maurepas Swamp is what many people think of when they hear 'Sportsman's Paradise,'" said Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority chairman Gordon "Gordy" Dove in the release.

• "Unfortunately, the swamp has been severely impacted after being cut off from the Mississippi River's freshwater. Reconnecting the swamp to the river is essential to halting its decline and ensuring its preservation for future generations."
• The swamp's decline has led to population drops in some native birds by nearly 50% over two decades, one expert told the AP, which disrupts multiple aspects of the local ecosystem.

By the numbers: The project will cost about $330 million, and it'll be paid for with a mix of Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement dollars and state money.

Between the lines: The Maurepas Swamp Project was selected as the Army Corps of Engineers' mitigation effort to make up for the environmental damage caused by the 18.5-mile comprehensive levee system known as the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain project, the release says.

• This marks the first time the Army Corps has used a CPRA-constructed restoration project for mitigation.

The intrigue: The groundbreaking was widely applauded, unlike the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project, which aimed to build nearly two dozen square miles of wetlands over the next five decades.

• To do so would require slicing open a stretch of levee to flood part of the Barataria Basin favored by already-stretched-thin local shrimpers, The Times-Picayune reports.
• That project has been recently panned by Gov. Jeff Landry, a move that essentially "[pulled] the plug" on it, one expert told Fox 8.