Louisiana has an abundance of natural resources including fisheries, oil and gas, and navigable waterways

The Capital Region Planning Commission received a $115,482 cooperative agreement award from the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration under the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Science, Observation, Monitoring, and Technology federal grant program (CFDA 11.451) to support watershed management project selection and governance in Louisiana. Specifically, the award will fund the Commission's work with Louisiana's eight designated watershed regions to coordinate regional watershed planning efforts and recommend projects for Round 3 of funding under the state's Louisiana Watershed Initiative between September 2021 and August 2023. The Louisiana Watershed Initiative stems from a gubernatorial executive order tasking state agencies with flood risk management through a regional watershed approach and cross-jurisdictional decision-making.

One thing that these natural resources have in common is water. Water is the natural resource that when managed can lead to economic stability, or instability, depending on the quantity and quality of IT. The natural resource decision that this proposal focuses on is related to watershed management project selection for round 3 of projects in the louisiana watershed initiative (LWI). LWI stemmed from an executive order by governor edwards that charged five state agencies with coordinating statewide flood risk management efforts through a regional watershed approach, centering around cross-jurisdictional decision-making. The states watersheds are now organized around and grouped into eight identified watershed regions charged with creating regional governance models, watershed plans, and recommendations for selecting and prioritizing regional watershed management projects between