Weirs Closed

[Smalls]

Originally Posted by noodle creek

Smalls, no disrespect intended, is the marsh on the west side of west cove going to eventually erode up to hwy 27, or is it more of a saltwater marsh that can tolerate high salt content? Also, how much has west cove eroded since 1956 when the land loss data started being obtained?

These conversations used to consist of you and duck butter saying that the weirs aren't managed for "weigeon grass" but on this thread it turned into "it is a NWR and all NWR are managed for waterfowl."

If different people can obtain contracts to manage the weirs, how can we be so sure that they really are being used for their purpose of stopping erosion, and not just for the good of duck hunters in that marsh?

If the erosion issue is the number one priority for our estuary, and the answer to the west cove question is yes, then why aren't there weirs over there?

I completely understand the good intent behind the weirs, I just feel that if we could rock the ship channel, maybe mother nature ought to be left alone to do her thing.

In all honesty, I'm not sure what makes the west cove marsh more sustainable. It is just as fresh as a lot of Cameron-Creole is. Looking back at a few land loss figures, there is not near as much conversion to open water as in the Cameron-Creole. For what ever reason, that area is more sustainable. I've got a report on the hydrologic history of the Sabine/Calcasieu basin that might have some information on that. I haven't studied that area as extensively as I have the Cameron-Creole. It's too large for me to post here, but if you'd like, I could e-mail it to you if you want to take a look at it. Pretty cool report with a lot of testimony from biologists and marsh managers from around the area.

I'll send that to anyone that may want to read it. Used to you could find the whole report on lacoast.gov, but I have no clue what happened to it. I had even talked to the people that manage the website and the whole report was put on there.

As for the widgeon grass/NWR conversation: that was not my meaning when I made that statement about the NWR. The National Wildlife Refuge was set up to manage waterfowl habitat. The weirs were not just set up to manage the NWR, but the Cameron-Creole watershed as a whole. I don't think the NWR even makes up half of the watershed.

Honestly, to the question of the contracts, there really is no way to know if they are going to manage the weirs the way they were intended to be managed.

If the channel could be rocked, it may be another level of salinity control. That question should be asked of the people that devised the original plan. Why wasn't that considered? Or if it was, what made it so that it was not the plan implemented?