How effective governance can streamline restoration efforts—Louisiana CPRA Case Study

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Written By Danielle Bissett

Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority (CPRA) is a highly successful restoration program that demonstrates how strategic institutional design can achieve restoration at scale and speed. Since 2007, the CPRA has secured nearly $22 billion, completed 150+ projects, and benefited over 55,000 acres of coastal habitat through three key strategies: centralized authority, evidence-based planning with public buy-in, and constitutionally protected funding. This case study illustrates how effective governance can streamline restoration efforts.

The Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) works to improve the permitting process to accelerate ecological restoration—funding should go towards nature, not paperwork. EPIC's strategic framework for smart permitting focuses on three approaches: getting through the process faster, fundamentally changing the process, and raising the bar on avoiding impacts. 

If you're working on permitting reform or have a restoration project story to share, please reach out to Danielle Bissett, Restoration Permitting Policy Lead, dbissett@policyinnovation.org. Let's learn from what's working and identify where we still need innovative solutions!

Read Our Case Study
Danielle Bissett

Danielle Bissett is a Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner and Assistant Director of Restoration Policy at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, which she joined at the end of 2023. In her current role on the Restoration Team, she applies her practitioner experience to improve permitting processes and policies, accelerating high-quality restoration projects. Before joining EPIC, Danielle led restoration efforts at NYC Parks’ Natural Resources Group and Billion Oyster Project. At NYC Parks, she collaborated with partners and community groups to implement the Bronx River Intermunicipal Watershed Plan—a comprehensive ecological restoration approach that improves physical, ecological, and social conditions while reducing environmental stressors to the river and riparian areas. While working for Billion Oyster Project, Danielle played a pivotal role in shaping and advancing oyster reef habitat restoration in New York City. As Director of Restoration, she led and scaled the Restoration Department and strategically established several initiatives to assist the recovery of self-sustaining oyster populations in New York Harbor, which relied heavily on collaborative partnerships and a multi-habitat restoration approach. She holds a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from Bard College’s Center for Environmental Policy and a dual Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and Anthropology from Adelphi University.

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