Louisiana has a new leader for its coastal restoration efforts

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Elise Plunk (Louisiana Illuminator)

Published July 14, 2025 at 2:40 PM CDT

An aerial view of the Wax Lake Delta on the coast of Louisiana. The delta is one of the few places along Louisiana’s coast that is building land instead of losing it.

The new leader of Louisiana’s coastal preservation efforts brings a background in the burgeoning field of environmental markets to the job.

Gov. Jeff Landry announced Friday that Michael Hare will become the new executive director of the state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. The governor moved his predecessor, Glenn Ledet Jr., to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, where Landry is leading a reorganization effort.

Hare graduated from Louisiana State University in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and earned a master’s degree in foreign policy from American University in Washington, D.C., in 2004. He returned to LSU for master’s degree in business administration in 2019

Hare ran his own environmental markets advising company, Wildhare Solutions, based in Lafayette. Previously, he was director of government affairs and business development at Resource Environmental Solutions and a legislative assistant to former U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette.

Kirk Curole, owner of Bayside Oysters in Grand Isle, La., shakes the algae off his floating oyster cages.

Coastal Desk

Could off-bottom oyster production solve Louisiana’s oyster woes?

Elise Plunk (Louisiana Illuminator)

Louisiana is exploring off-bottom oyster harvesting as more than just a marketing strategy. In its final environmental impact statement for the controversial Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers lists the state’s strong interest in off-bottom oyster cultivation as a way to help build resiliency into an industry under threat from sediment diversions.

Environmental markets, such as mitigation banking, water quality trading and carbon credits, look to incentivize activities intended to prevent, mitigate, or clean up degradation of the natural environment using an economic approach.

“Michael has years of experience in coastal restoration, and I am confident that his leadership and commitment to our state make him well-suited to lead CPRA,” Landry in a news release.

CPRA oversees projects along Louisiana’s coast, which is experiencing an unrivaled rate of land loss as sea level rise and subsidence work to eat away at its wetlands and coastal settlements.

“We must remain united as a coastal community and maintain our sense of urgency to confront the challenges along our coast,” Hare said in the same release, adding his commitment to projects that will “protect and sustain our culture and way of life” along Louisiana’s coast.