Louisiana’s Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments (LA SAFE)
Louisiana’s Strategic Adaptations for Future Environments (LA SAFE) addressed community resilience through a holistic and collaborative planning process, integrating flood risk planning with planning for stormwater management, housing, transportation, economic development, education and recreation. Through LA SAFE, the state sought to prepare communities for rising sea levels and future disasters through a large-scale community-driven planning effort spanning southeast Louisiana. The final result of the planning process is the LA SAFE Regional Adaptation Strategy which summarizes goals and action items developed through LA SAFE’s planning effort for implementation across a larger geography over a 50-year time frame.
To develop aspirational—yet realistic—visions of tomorrow’s communities, LA SAFE led a grassroots effort across six parishes to gather information and ideas while harnessing the experience and ingenuity of its residents. The parishes included: Jefferson, Lafourche, Plaquemines, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany and Terrebonne. The process included an extensive planning process of more than 70 outreach and engagement events, more than $47 million in project investments designed by residents and stakeholders and seven strategy documents highlighting takeaways and recommended actions.
LOCD – DR allocated $39.75 million of the NDR funding to the LA SAFE Program.
Other funding sources include:
Project Updates
The LA SAFE program is nearing the end, with the majority of projects either complete or nearing completion:
- The Louisiana Wetlands Education Center has expended all NDR funding, but the project is still in progress via other funding.
- The Jefferson Gretna Resilience District project is complete and fully expended.
- The Plaquemines Harbor of Refuge project is complete and fully expended.
- The Plaquemines C.A.R.E. Mental Health and Substance Abuse Program is complete and fully expended.
- The St. John Airline and Main Complete Streets project is 91% complete. Signage has been mounted, the last of the plantings have been installed and the contractors are continuing to round out the last of the punch-list items.
- The St. Tammany – Blue-Green Safe Haven project is underway with a projected completion date of March 2025.
- The Terrebonne Lake Boudreaux project is complete and fully expended.
| Project | Total Budget | Total Expended (to date) | % Budget Usage | Project Completion Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jefferson – Louisiana Wetlands Education Center | $520,000.00 | $520,000.00 | 100% | Ongoing |
| Jefferson – Gretna Resilience District | $2,050,000.00* | $2,050,000.00 | 100% | May 2023 |
| Plaquemines – Harbor of Refuge | $4,515,000.00 | $4,511,139.53 | 99.91% | June 2024 |
| Plaquemines – C.A.R.E. Mental Health and Substance Abuse Program | $1,865,000.00 | $1,865,000.00 | 100% | September 2022 |
| St. John – Airline and Main Complete Streets | $6,368,800.00 | $5,818,875.76 | 91% | July 2024 |
| St. Tammany – Blue-Green Safe Haven | $5,320,000.00 | $1,245,022.09 | 23% | March 2025 |
| Terrebonne – Lake Boudreaux | $3,845,000.00 | $3,845,000.00 | 100% | October 2023 |
* Total NDR funding