Shell volunteers and BTNEP work together on saving Marshes and Ridges

For years, volunteers from Shell in their iconic red-and-yellow pecten shirts have joined staff from the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP, pronounced “bit-nep”) to take part in a wetlands planting project on the Fourchon Maritime Ridge and Marsh just north of the busy Port Fourchon.

The goal of these projects is to create sustainable ridge and marsh habitat along the Bayou Cochon area. Volunteers help place native woody species and herbaceous plants to help make the area more resilient to storms and flooding, while creating habitat for birds that migrate between the Gulf Coast and South America.

"These ridges are like islands in a sea of salt marsh providing critical habitat for the Neotropical migratory birds on their long journeys each spring and fall," said Matt Benoit, BTNEP Habitat Restoration Coordinator. “In Louisiana’s 2017 Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) Master Plan for Coastal Restoration, project types such as ridge restoration and marsh creation play a critical part in not only creating new land, but in providing another line of defense to help protect local communities from waves and storms.”

For decades, Port Fourchon and Southeast Louisiana have played important roles in Shell’s Deep Water Portfolio in the Gulf of Mexico and these “sweat equity” projects are just one way Shell aims to be part of the Creative Energy - the Rhythm of Louisiana.

Learn more about BTNEP