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Frank McMains/WRKF Martin Ecosystem's floating islands, before installation

According to the U.S. Geological Survey, Louisiana is losing about 16.5 miles of coast each year due to hurricanes, erosion and the lack of sediment deposits.

Principle Chief of the United Houma Nation, Thomas Dardar, has lived between Isle de Jean Charles, Pointe Aux Chene and Golden Meadow for his entire life and has seen a lot of change in that time. He points at the marsh and says, "You're looking at about a mile of open waterway right here, where this was all hard land at one time. My dad and people his age used to farm right there and now my children are fishing in the area that they used to farm on, so we've seen the dramatic change over the years."

Project Manager with America's Wetland Foundation, Buddy Boe, says something needs to be done soon - according to Dardar at least 150 families in south Louisiana and the Terrbonne parish vicinity have been displaced in recent years due to land loss. Boe says, "It's an American tragedy if we let another Native American population lose their land, and it's happening. So we're here to create awareness, to build land, and to build a conscious mindset around the land that this is being allowed to happen - that we're telling these communities that they have to move because they're not being protected by this levee system."

On a recent fall afternoon Dardar and a group of volunteers from more than a dozen organizations gathered in a bayou

Frank McMains/WRKF Employees of Martin Ecosystems tie the islands together before towing them out for installation

near Isle de Jean Charles to do something about the problem. Armed with small boats, rope, and anchors, they headed out into the swamp to pilot a new technology called "floating islands."

Nicole Waguespack, President of Martin Ecosystems of Baton Rouge, the manufacturer of the islands - says they are about the size of a pool table, made of recycled plastics and each have little pockets of dirt in which are planted 40 to 50 native plant species. She says usually marshland restoration means planting directly into the marsh, which isn't very effective, "So if a storm comes, or if weather conditions are not favorable, a lot times those plantings just wash away. Whereas the island itself - the plastic - provides a place for the roots to grow, establish, and thrive and spread."

The floating mats are anchored into the bottom of the marsh, in the shallow water, creating an ecosystem that mimics naturally occurring wetlands.

Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana Habitat Chairman, John Walther, says the Lafourche Parish levee district is already using the islands to protect their levees. Walther says, "It is a proven technology. It's already been used for a couple of years in Louisiana, but it's been used in other parts of the country - it originated in Michigan in the Great Lakes and we're very excited about the applications here in our coastal areas where we're losing wetlands so fast."

John Hill, of America's Wetland Foundation, says he has high hopes for the new technology. "It's being used in a very new and unique way here to see if it can be effective in building land in open water. The water here is very shallow and these plants will put down roots all the way to the water bottom and grip."

Jason Martin, of Martin Ecosystems, took me out in his boat while he anchored one of the islands. He says it's taken the group of volunteers about five days to install the 1,500 linear feet of floating islands, but it's worth the work, "One day I'd like my kids to be able to fish and enjoy it like I did. That's kind of the most upsetting thing. That's really why we got started with this business. I mean, it was mostly for water quality - cleaning up storm water ponds, wastewater, and things like that. We just really thought there was an application where we could do something for coastal restoration.

Frank McMains/WRKF Several floating islands are towed out into the marsh

Executive Director of the Governor's Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, Jerome Zeringue says they're hopeful about the technique but long-term success is yet to be determined. Zeringue says, "We need to make sure that we evaluate it and monitor it and if it works, there's potential to use it, but I think, for the most part all indications are that it can be used in certain situations. Whether it's the best solution, the most economical or feasible, additional tests in different habitat types and evaluations and projects will determine how effective it can be."

But Dr. James Cowan, a Professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at LSU, says there could be some problems with the technology. He doubts the islands will stand up in a storm, "They're going to end up in somebody's yard somewhere. They're not going to capture enough mineral sediments to anchor them in place and I just think that it looks good and it's bright and shiny, but I don't think it'll be very effective and it's certainly not a long-term solution to anything."

But for Dardar it's not about endorsing a specific method. He hopes the islands work, but when it comes right down to it, if they don't, "We're going to try something else. That's our resiliency. That's who we are. We've come through hurricanes and storm after storm after storm and we rebuild."

Martin ecosystems will monitor the site at Isle de Jean Charles for a year to see how successful it is. Meanwhile, they've been contracted to install about 1,500 more feet of the floating islands in Terrebonne, Lafitte and St. Mary parishes. The Louisiana Association of Conservation Districts recently received a $300,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife foundation "Recovered Oil Fund for Wildlife" to pay for the project.