Houma Navigational Channel(HNC) the other "Hurricane Highway"

The Dutch would recognize the Morganza plan as the precipitant of the same kind of inappropriate development that begat the rapid subsidence of New Orleans --- a landfill. Levees, even the "leaky" kind, will drastically alter the hydrology of the wetlands and change the habitat to its great detriment and precipitate Terrebonne's economic decline. Furthermore, the Morganza Plan will not restore even one sqaure foot of wetlands. The water behind the levees will turn black and toxic like the canals of Amsterdam; nothing lives in those waters once teeming with life --- no insects, no fish, no amphibians, no reptiles.

THIS VOICE of the WETLANDS cannot support the Morganza project because it applies failed technology (levees) with untested variations (hydrology gates) which have never been shown to produce any other result than destruction of the estuarial ecology. In this case, especially, the stakes are too high.

A positive solution can only begin at the source of the problem.

Efforts to control seasonal flooding in our basin overreached in the early twentieth century, following a pattern of western progress without regard to the unintended consequences of severely altering the hydrology of a complex ecosystem. Current and planned diversion efforts are woefully insufficient.

As such this VOICE of the WETLANDS implore the implementation of massive projects for the heads of Bayou Terrebonne and Bayou Lafourche to be opened to allow fresh sedimented water into our basin. It would be better to expend scarce recources on world-class engineering at the root of the devastating symptoms, than to invest in a repittion of failed policies based on failed technology, building levees on the edge of wetlands on peaty, alluvial soil.

This VOICE of the WETLANDS is convinced that any coastal restoration program must begin with the decommissioning and closure of the Houma Navigational Canal. Several earthen dams strategically placed in the HNC could restore the natural hydrology and salinity profile as a basis for restoration in combination with the mega-diversions.

This VOICE of the WETLANDS would prefer to assist small companies affected by the HNC closure adapt business, develop alternative locations and transportation systems in order to continue operations in Terrebonne Parish, than to spend wastefully on a canal lock which is already being called insufficient at a sill depth of 18 ft.

Closing the Houma Navigational Canal may seem like an extreme measure, but believe me, we are one bad storm away, and one minor flood away from a turn-in-the-tide regarding the Houma Navigational Canal. St. Bernard officials are seeking remedy in Federal Court to force the USACE to finally take action on the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet(MRGO) as implement the public's will --- to decommission, close it, and repair the damage. Their momentum is still building, even though marine transportation interests continue to desperately hang on to the failed MRGO canal.

As this VOICE of the WETLANDS mentioned in comments to The Commission, Chalmette and St. Bernard Parish provide a cautionary tale to Houma-Terrebonne. The lessons are clear: deep canals amplify the most devastating effects of hurricane storm surge and wetlands are the only protection from those effects. As such this VOICE of the WETLANDS urges the immediate decommissioning of the Houma Navigational Canal, and an immediate moratorium on canal cutting, all types of dredging and wheel-washing in the lower Terrebonne wetlands in all jurisdictions.

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True Voice of the Wetlands

Houma Navigational Channel(HNC) the other "Hurricane Highway"