LSU Awarded $780K for Nature-Based Efforts to Help Louisiana Tribe Protect Coastal Land
January 08, 2024
Pointe-au-Chien, southeast of Houma, La.
LSU is using nature-based solutions to help a Louisiana Indian tribe whose ancestral lands in coastal Pointe-au-Chien are endangered due to growing environmental challenges. A recent financial boost will lead to the expansion of that project.
Since 2022, LSU has been working with the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe to protect the tribe鈥檚 fishing, hunting, and farming community, one of Louisiana鈥檚 oldest settlements. Matthew Bethel, associate executive director of research at Louisiana Sea Grant, has been leading the project, which will expand into a full-fledged $780,000 design project funded by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine鈥檚 Gulf Research Program.
鈥淲e lead this work by learning from the tribe鈥檚 perspective and factoring in traditional ecological knowledge and priorities from the tribe,鈥� Bethel said. 鈥淎t a larger scale, our collaborative can be adopted, adapted, and applied by researchers working with almost any community on local issues.鈥�