Delta Dispatches

Welcome to Delta Dispatches, with your hosts Jacques Hebert, and Simone Maloz. Today we're talking to future leaders in coastal restoration! Today’s first guest is Milan Mardia, senior at Jesuit High School. Milan has presented to the CPRA Board about educating younger generations of coastal advocates and is learning how A.I. (artificial intelligence) could enhance how we approach coastal projects. Check out Milan’s website dedicated to Louisiana’s coastal restoration here: https://www.lacoastalerosion.com/. Next up is Martin Mantz, Coastal Restoration Program Manager at Nunez Community College. He brings on a professor and a few students to talk about their new Coastal Studies and GIS Technology program and other opportunities to build a career in coastal restoration at Nunez. You can learn more on their website: https://www.nunez.edu/academics/coastal-studies-and-gis-technology-450799

Simone is joined by Dr. Robert Habans, Economist with The Data Center and Dr. Loren C. Scott, President of Dr. Loren C. Scott and Associates, Inc. to discuss new economic reports with relevance on Louisiana's coast. Kristin Tracz, Program Officer with the Walton Family Foundation, joins as a guest co-hosts!

Welcome to Delta Dispatches, with your host Jacques Hebert. Today’s guests are Jessica Mallindine, Marine biologist at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Marine Minerals Program, along with John Filostrat, Regional Supervisor for the Office of Public Affairs. In the second half of the show, Jacques is joined by Jonathan Foret, Executive Director of South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center to discuss the upcoming Rougarou Fest, October 26-27 in Houma, Louisiana.

Thanks for listening to the latest episode of Delta Dispatches, with your hosts Jacques Hebert and Simone Maloz. Today talks with one of the most celebrated coastal scientists in the country, Don Boesch, Professor and President Emeritus at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. They talk about his distinguished career including his time as the first director of LUMCON, and his experience on the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling in 2010. Jacques is also joined by Victoria Sagrera, Restore or Retreat Special Projects Coordinator to talk about Restore or Retreat’s busy summer.

On today’s bonus episode of Delta Dispatches, Jacques sits down with Shannon Cunniff, who recently retired after 27 years working at the heart of environmental policy. Shannon discusses her career highlights, ranging from working for a federal agency at the intersection of water resources and coastal resilience to working for the Environmental Defense Fund and serving as a board member for the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association. In this interview Jacques and Shannon talk about her inspirational career – including obstacles she overcame, personal highlights, and advice for future environmentalists. In the final act of the show, Jacques welcomes James Karst, Communication Director for the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana to talk about some of their upcoming work and an exciting partnership with the New Orleans Saints!

On today’s episode of Delta Dispatches, we talk with Lauren Averill, Jefferson Parish Coastal Zone Director, and ASPBA Central Gulf Coast Board member. Lauren discusses the history and importance of coastal management in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana’s most populous coastal parish, and highlights a number of restoration projects underway in the parish.

On this week’s episode of Delta Dispatches, we’re celebrating #NationalEstuariesWeek! Our friend Kristi Trail, executive director of Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, drops by to talk about one of our favorite estuaries, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin! Learn more about this vital ecosystem and work LPBF is doing to protect it 30 years after the organization's founding. Later in the show, Simone and Jacques are joined by Angela Chalk, executive director of Healthy Community Services to talk about the importance of water management in cities like New Orleans and what YOU can do in your own background or block to help!

On this week's episode of Delta Dispatches, we're talking fish! Today’s first guest is Chris Macaluso, Director of the Center for Marine Fisheries for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. He reflects on the state of Louisiana's fisheries after a historic year of Mississippi River flooding. Simone and Jacques also talk with another prolific fisherman, Todd Masson, host of the Marsh Man Masson YouTube channel. In the last segment, Greg Lambousy, Director of the New Orleans Jazz Museum, joins the show to discuss this weekend's Downriver Festival in New Orleans.

On this week’s episode of Delta Dispatches, we talk with Steve Caparotta, meteorologist for WAFB in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Jacques and Simone are excited to talk to another of Louisiana’s most respected meteorologists. Steve talks about how Louisiana floods, the increase in extreme weather, and how the map of our state has changed. In the final act of the show, we’re joined by David Muth, director of gulf restoration for the National Wildlife Federation. David talks about the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion and how, despite not being designed or operated to build land, the input of sediment over time has resulted in land gain and increased wildlife habitat.

On today’s episode of Delta Dispatches, hosts Jacques and Simone are joined by Mark Sickle, Corporate and Government Relations for Weeks Marine and Bernie Pinsonat, formerly a partner at ‎Southern Media & Opinion Research, Inc. and now commissions polls for Bernie Pinsonat Inc. Mark kicks off the show to talk about Weeks Marine’s new dredge, which will be used for the upcoming Terrebonne Basin Barrier Island project, which includes West Bell Headlands, Timbalier Island and Trinity East Island. On the second half the show, Bernie joins the show to talk about the results of the recently completed poll of Louisiana voters. This poll found that voters are deeply concerned about the state’s coastal land loss crisis and support coastal restoration efforts to address it. You can read the results of the poll at http://mississippiriverdelta.org/coastal-poll-2019/.