Coastal La. tribe to relocate en masse

The Louisiana Office of Community Development reached an agreement March 20 to buy a 515-acre tract in south Terrebonne Parish, near Schriever, for $11.7M to relocate some 80 residents – mostly members of a Native American tribe - from the rapidly-sinking Isle de Jean Charles community. The acreage is owned by Acadia Agricultural Holdings, but is known as the Evergreen property. It had been valued at $19.1M, and sits some nine feet above sea level. The property is 20-plus miles south of Houma. The purchase is to be funded with money from a $48.3M grant from the National Disaster Resilience Competition. The mostly Native American Isle de Jean Charles community has lost 98 percent of it land since 1955, the result of a combination of subsidence, erosion and sea level rise. It is the first community in the nation to receive federal assistance to retreat from the effects of climate change. (Source: NOLA.com 03/20/18)