News of interest to Tammany Together members and friends

Building to mitigate the impacts of coastal hazards – such as hurricane storm surge and subsidence – will be the focus of two public workshops scheduled for Oct. 14 and Oct. 15.

The Oct. 14 workshop will be held from 9 a.m. until noon at the St. Tammany Parish Government Council Chambers, 21490 Koop Drive in Mandeville. The Oct. 15 meeting will take place from 9 a.m. until noon at the LSU AgCenter offce, 6640 Riverside Dr., Metairie (across from the YMCA). Both workshops are open to the public and hosted by the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program.

“It is up to us, as individuals and local governments, to take the lead in protecting our lives and property and to establish resilient and sustainable communities through our decisions on where and how to build,” said Jim Wilkins, director of the Louisiana Sea Grant Law & Public Policy program. “The techniques to be discussed at the workshops can be implemented by local governments as well as individuals without dependence on state or federal governments. In other words, we’re talking about taking a ‘self-help’ approach,” said Wilkins, who will be leading the meetings.

Since its establishment in 1968, the Louisiana Sea Grant College Program has worked to promote stewardship of the state’s coastal resources through a combination of research, education and outreach programs critical to the cultural, economic and environmental health of Louisiana’s coastal zone. Louisiana Sea Grant, based at Louisiana State University, is part of the National Sea Grant College Program, a network of 32 programs in each of the U.S. coastal and Great Lakes states and Puerto Rico.

More details on the workshops can be found on the Tammany Together web site at http://www.TammanyTogether.org/files/MitigationWorkshops.pdf.