Rabbit Island Restoration

Cameron Parish, Louisiana

Kiewit subsidiary Weeks Marine, Inc., was brought on by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) to restore the only pelican nesting habitat west of the Atchafalaya River — one of the few remaining colonial waterbird rookeries along the Louisiana coast.

The goal was to reinstate 88 acres of elevated habitat that had been washed away due to tidal conditions, wave action and hurricane storms, creating bird habitat and marsh.

Weeks used the CR McCaskill, its 30-inch cutter suction dredge, to dredge the material from the shipping channel. The team also overcame challenges associated with laying steel pipe in changing tides and shallow water and being hit by Hurricane Laura soon after the project had mobilized. By three months after completion, nearly 2,000 nests of different wading birds and shorebirds had already found their way into the restored area.