...a new study suggests that hurricanes themselves can do the job the projects are intended for, which is to spread new sediment across wetlands. The researchers estimated how much sediment Hurricanes Katrina and Rita washed ashore in 2005 and have concluded that hurricanes could supply all the silt and other inorganic sediment that healthy wetlands in this region need.

Together, Katrina and Rita delivered about 130 million tons of inorganic sediment to the Louisiana coast, the authors concluded.

More research will be necessary to determine where the sediment in this layer was before it was deposited by the hurricanes. One concern is that hurricanes may be simply moving material from one wetland location to another.

There are still many ways that humans can help restore Louisiana’s wetlands, Turner said. He suggested filling in the canals dredged by oil and gas companies, creating much smaller river diversions, and restoring the natural drainage channels on an acre-by-acre basis.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14927077/