Meraux Foundation Honors Legislators as “Coastal Champions”

Louisiana loses a football-sized amount of its wetlands each hour. This rate of erosion will only increase, especially in the wake of the devastating hurricanes and natural disasters that we have experienced more frequently in recent years. We know that our coastal wetlands provide vital storm surge protection – in fact, they reduce storm surge by one foot per every 2.7 feet of wetlands.

It is with all this in mind that, we, the Meraux Foundation Board of Directors, decided to create the “Coastal Champions Award” to honor two individuals who fight day-in-and-day-out to save our coast and protect our community. We were honored this year to present this award to the Co-Chairs of the Louisiana Legislative Coastal Caucus, Representative Walt Leger III Speaker Pro Tempore, and Representative Simone Champagne