Mini-Miss. River restoration model

HOLDEN, Mass. - Researchers and visitors stood on a levee of the Mississippi River, about an hour west of Boston, while the actual river was thousands of miles away. Actual location was a warehouse-size lab above a 1/65th scale model of a bend in the Louisiana portion of the river. The model is part of a major project to rebuild Louisiana’s vanishing coast, which is rapidly being lost to rising seas and sinking land. Engineers want to be sure their design for a river “diversion” - an enormous mechanism for restoring eroded wetlands - will work. The cost of the model to build and test was a bargain of $4M, said Dan Gessler of Alden Research Laboratory, which built it. The cost of the real project, roughly $1.4B, and the potential to cost more to correct design flaws. “It’s very, very cheap, he said.” It is also fun to play with, said David Muth, director of Gulf restoration for the National Wildlife Federation, who visited the Alden facility. His organization, along with the Environmental Defense Fund and the National Audubon Society, has joined forces with local groups to support coastal projects under the banner of the Restore the Mississippi River Delta Coalition, which calls diversions a “cornerstone for coastal restoration.” (Source: NY Times 02/25/20) htts://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/25/climate/louisiana-mississippi-river-model.html?te=1&nl=morning-briefing&emc=edit_NN_p_20200226&section=whatElse&campaign_id=9&instance_id=16293&segment_id=21630&user_id=069c0c79e41b9effe3db22ae17a5e131&regi_id=92576814ion=whatElse