NEW ORLEANS – The Federal Emergency Management Agency recently announced more than $1 million in recovery aid to build a new Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge Fish Lab and Fish Lab Complex, which were destroyed during Hurricane Rita. 

The Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge encompasses more than 76,000 acres in Cameron and Vermilion parishes and is noted as one of the most biologically diverse wildlife areas in the nation. The Refuge was also home to a biological research complex, where staff and biologists studied the American alligator, fish, plants and waterfowl populations.

“The Grand Chenier complex plays an integral role in the pioneering research performed at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge,” said FEMA’s Louisiana Recovery Office Deputy Director of Programs Andre Cadogan. “Through FEMA’s assistance, the state will be able to reverse the damage done by Hurricane Rita and build back this complex in a more resourceful manner.”  

Hurricane Rita’s storm surge, high winds and flooding destroyed the Refuge’s Grand Chenier biological research complex of buildings, owned by Louisiana Facility Planning and Control and operated by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Rather than rebuild each facility back to its pre-disaster condition, the state decided to pursue a more efficient design, consolidating the buildings and moving them northwest of the original location. 

Six of the buildings destroyed by Rita—a fish lab, fish lab boat shed, chemical storage building, alligator incubator shed, alligator storage shed and freezer storage shed—will be consolidated into three new buildings. The final blueprint calls for a 5,460-square-foot fish lab and an alligator incubator shed, both elevated on pilings 13 feet above base flood elevation, as well as a boat shed. Funding for the consolidated structures also comes from an alligator pump house, trappers camp and airstrip, all of which will not be rebuilt.

To date, FEMA has obligated approximately $18.8 million in public assistance funding for Hurricane Rita-related recovery work at Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge. This figure includes the recent $1 million in funding.

Editors: For more information on Louisiana disaster recovery, visit www.fema.gov/latro.

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When FEMA approves projects through its supplemental Public Assistance grant, the funds are made available to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, who disburses them to the applicant for eligible work completed.

The Public Assistance program works with state and local officials to fund recovery measures and the rebuilding of government and certain private nonprofit organizations’ buildings, as well as roads, bridges and water and sewer plants. In order for the process to be successful, federal, state and local partners coordinate to draw up project plans, fund these projects and oversee their completion.

FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.