By LEONARD GRAY

HAHNVILLE – “It’s a necessary project; it’s something we need,” Coastal Zone Manager Earl Matherne said after the St. Charles Parish Council meeting this week.

The project’s urgency pushed the right buttons in Baton Rouge, for now the $2.3 million Lake Salvador Shoreline Protection Project is on the right track, with the necessary funding to place rocks along the shore to cut tidal erosion.

“We go after one project at a time,” Matherne said. “When St. Charles Parish gets its priorities and asks, they know it is something we need.”

And, what should appease many government critics, is the fact that this is done mostly through money raised from companies who pay permit fees and drilling rights for working in the wetlands – the same companies usually blamed for causing much of the saltwater intrusion and marsh destruction in the first place.

This is phase three of the project, the earlier phases were completed in the 1990s under the Breaux Bill. And while the shoreline project protects private property, commercially owned property and federally mandated acreage for migratory wildlife habitat, there are other issues at stake, too.

“This is not just an environmental issue, but hurricane protection as well,” Planning Director Bob Lambert said.

The parish council quickly approved three ordinances related to the project. The first was to ratify acceptance of $289,211 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration toward construction of a 12,000-foot rock wall breakwater.

The second was for approval of a Memorandum of Understanding between the parish and the state Department of Natural Resources, which is matching funding toward the project.

DNR will use $360,000 in mitigation fees, $900,000 in state wetlands trust fund money, $1 million in funding from the state designated Coastal Impact Assistance Program, as well as design and construct the project, doing all engineering in-house. The parish will obtain the necessary coastal use permits and turn more than $220,000 of the $289,211 toward the project.

Finally, the third ordinance approved is for archaeological work on the site, to preserve and protect Chitimachan Indian tribal relics and remains, at a cost to Surveys Unliminited Research Associates Inc. of $67,278.15.

The work will be to define the extent of the site and whether it qualifies for National Historic Register protection.

Construction is due to commence late this summer.