Frank Atkinson: In Europe, a decision was made on the position of a fortification line 

 and money was spent on shoring up that line, if Louisiana is going to spend money on 

 coastal protection, we have to decide where that fortification line is going to be and 

 then decide how to protect that line. Where is that fortification line going to be? 



Johannes von Beek: We have been evaluating that in relation to the rates of land loss 

 being experienced. It is evident that the line must be a considerable distance inward 

 from the present coast. There are two major conditions for the determination of 

 that line: (I) where are the major investments and population centers and (2) where 

 are the major natural levee deposits in order to build structures necessary for 

 permanent protection. Taken together, one can fairly well draw a line along Bayou 

 Teche through Houma to Bayou Lafourche. 



Murray Hebert: By their recommendation of $17 million dollars in island stabilization 

 projects, the Joint Natural Resources Committees decided the line will be the 

 barrier islands. With the tremendous amount of revenues which have been generated 

 in Louisiana, it would certainly be a shame if we left a legacy of depleted natural 

 resources, depleted fisheries, an eroding coastline, and a depleted treasury. I would 

 certainly hope that we can get more people involved in solving these problems. 



Dag Nummedal: Because there are people and investments which need protection, we 

 obviously need to take some steps, even if short-term to slow the rate of erosion. 

 However these efforts need to be tied into regional or statewide plans for ultimate 

 land use. We need to keep productive resources, but should not build structures 

 which will bring a lot of new people into the threatened areas. The European 

 experience has been different because that coastline is stable. The Louisiana coast 

 is subsiding an order of magnitude faster than the German or Dutch coast. 



Irving Mendelssohn: I can not say where the line should be drawn; that is largely a socio- 

 economic and political question. However, to draw the line at the barrier islands is 

 really not looking at the facts. There is no way to permanantly protect some barrier 

 islands which are subsiding, without discovery of huge sand supplies and spending 

 billions of dollars to continuously replenish the islands. We can draw such lines 

 temporarily, but we need a commitment to research on the processes which must be 

 understood for long-term planning. 



Larry DeMent: In my mind, we might need two or three fortification lines rather than a 

 single line. The first line may be the barrier islands, which we know are highly 

 dynamic. This may require pumping sand behind the islands in order to maintain a 

 moving line without having the islands disappear. Another line may be inland and 

 aimed at protecting population centers and wetlands. 



Johannes van Beek: Even though we have been talking about a line I think that to some 

 extent we can still have the best of both worlds. A line can be drawn and planned 

 for, then we can afford to manage the system outside the line as a dynamic system 

 and reap its benefits. 



Charles Groat: Thus, it may be that there are short-term benefits which justify short- 

 term Investments which are not long-term answers. But ultimately we have also to 

 strive for the long-term answers. 



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