According to the 2000 U.S. Census, more than half of Americans live within 50 miles of a coast and by 2025, 75 percent will. And in 2007 a study revealed that coastal counties provided half of US gross domestic product and 40% of the nation’s jobs. But America’s coastlines are in danger. Over development, harmful pollution, and massive erosion are shrinking and damaging our beaches, marshes, and estuaries. Without these precious resources our communities will become more vulnerable and and will lose their economic sustainability. The most effective way to reverse this environmental degradation is to implement coastal restoration projects that clean up our waters, re-build coastal land, and restore coastal ecosystems to their natural states. For many years Louisiana has been at the forefront of implementing coastal restoration projects as an attempt to save its wetlands which are eroding at an alarming rate of 2300 square miles in the last 80 years.
