The one questions that scientist have been asking since Hurricane Katrina is if it is possible to create land using the Mississippi River to restore Louisiana’s Coast? The state’s Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority plans to spend $2 billion on the first two of the diversion projects, one on each bank of the river in Plaquemines Parish.

According to previous evidence in 1862, an oysterman carved an opening in the river bank in Cubit’s Gap. Sediment that poured into the bay created more than 75 square miles of land in less than a century.

You can read more about why some believe this strategy will be a big change for the Louisiana Coast here.