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Future conditions of coastal Louisiana are highly uncertain due to the dynamic nature of deltas, climate change, tropical storms, and human reliance on natural resources and ecosystem services. Managing a system in which natural and socio-economic components are highly integrated is inherently difficult. Sediment diversions are a unique restoration tool that would reconnect the Mississippi River to its deltaic plain to build and sustain land. Diversions are innately adaptable as operations can be modified over time. An expert working group was formed to explore how various operational strategies may affect the complex interactions of coastal Louisiana's ecological and social landscape and provide preliminary recommendations for further consideration and research. For example, initial operations should be gradually increased over 5 to 10 years to facilitate the development of a distributary channel network, reduce flood risk potential to communities, limit erosion of adjacent marshes and reduce stress to vegetation and fish and wildlife species. Diversions should operate over winter peaks to capture the highest sediment concentration, reduce vegetation loss while dormant, and reduce detrimental effects to fish and wildlife. Operations during the spring/summer should occur over shorter periods to capture the highest sediment load during the rising limb of the flood peak and minimize impacts to the ecosystem. Operational strategies should strive to build and sustain as much of the coastal landscape as possible while also balancing the ecosystem and community needs.

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Intermediate marsh-Typical vegetation is frequently dominated by Leptochloa fusca, Panicum virgatum, Paspalum vaginatum, Phragmites australis, or Schoenoplectus americanus. Both intermediate and brackish marshes can be dominated by Spartina patens, but intermediate marshes dominated by Spartina patens have a higher species richness often including Sagittaria lancifolia, Schoenoplectus americanus, Eleocharis spp., and (or) Cyperus spp. Brackish marsh-Typical vegetation is often dominated by Spartina patens but is occasionally dominated by Spartina cynosuroides, Spartina spartinae, or Bolboschoenus robustus. Both intermediate and brackish marshes can be dominated by Spartina patens, but brackish marshes dominated by Spartina patens typically have a small number of other species such as Spartina alterniflora, Distichlis spicata, Juncus roemerianus, or Bolboschoenus robustus. Saline (saltwater) marsh-Typical vegetation is frequently dominated by Spartina alterniflora, Distichlis spicata, or Avicennia germinans.

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