The Cameron Creole Watershed (CCW), located within the Calcasieu-Sabine Basin in Cameron Parish, consists of 65,000 acres of brackish, intermediate, and fresh marsh.

Since 1989, target water level maintenance for CCW has been managed through five manually operated hydraulic control structures connected to Calcasieu Lake. However, sea level rise, subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and catastrophic hurricanes have caused extensive vegetation degradation and land loss within the Basin, demonstrating the criticality and need for additional measures.

The Calcasieu-Sabine Large-Scale Marsh and Hydrologic Restoration Project aims to reduce stress from inundation, improve vegetative productivity, and reduce the conversion of wetlands to open water. The project addresses this challenge from two angles: 1) improving marsh drainage into Calcasieu Lake and 2) raising marsh elevations through dredged sediment input. The project aims to create up to 2,000 acres of marsh.

Once constructed, the Calcasieu-Sabine Large-Scale Marsh and Hydrologic Restoration Project is expected to reduce water levels by an average of 1.9 inches with a peak reduction of 17 inches after a high-water event, providing much-needed inundation stress relief and thereby improving ecosystem health for fish and wildlife. Home to the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, the Calcasieu- Sabine Basin is one of the premier locations for wintering waterfowl, including cormorants, egrets, and many neotropical migratory songbirds. The Basin’s marshes also provide nurseries for important Louisiana commercial fisheries, including shrimp and various species of fish.

Leveraging Louisiana’s $260.97 million in RESTORE Bucket 1 funds, the construction phase for the lake rim drainage structures is anticipated to kick off in Spring 2025, with completion in 2028. Conveyance improvements and marsh creation and nourishment will follow in 2026 with anticipated completion in 2029. CPRA’s partner on the project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, will determine the timeline for marsh creation.