The History of Save Our Wetlands, Inc.(SOWL)

saveourwetlands.org
  1. Save Our Wetlands The Early Years: History of Eden Isles, Oak Harbor, North Shore Estates & the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Barrier Project. In it's infancy Save Our Wetlands(SOWL) fought two major legal battles to save the wetlands on the North Shore of Lake Pontchartrain and New Orleans East.

  2. December 30, 1977 - INJUNCTION: United States District Court Judge Charles Schwartz's judgment and reasons
    for stopping the United States Corps of Engineers pork belly drainage scheme title the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Barrier Project.

  3. Oct. 17, 1978 - SOWL Memorandum of Law: Submitted to the United States Court of Appeals in opposition to United States District Judge Blake West’s Order dismissing SOWL’s suit filed in 1974 attempting to stop the destruction of 5,200 acres of wetlands on the north shores of Lake Pontchartrain St. Tammany Parish-Slidell, La. The reasons behind the destruction of these wetlands was for the development of the Eden Isles subdivision and now in the present the Oak Harbor and Lake Shore Estates Villages subdivisions. This is an excellent summary for historians.

  4. July 17, 1978 - Memorandum and Order - United States Eastern District Court of Louisiana, Judge Blake West - His decision rubber-stamping, wiping his hands and blessing the illegal destruction of wetlands on the north shores of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish-Slidell, LA so that the Eden Isles subdivision could be built. This is Judge Blake West’s legacy.

  5. May 23, 1977 - Land Developers, Corps Ruin Lake? - Under a permit issued by the Corps of Engineers, the marsh is being dredged for an upper-income housing development called Eden Isles. One of 15 communities either planned or is being developed along the lakefront.

  6. Uknown Date in 1975 - SOWL Lawsuit - To enjoin the illegal destruction of what was then titled the Eastern undeveloped area of the Eden Isle subdivision. This area consisting of approximately 2,600 acres of wetlands is now called the Oak harbor, Lake Shore Estates/Villages subdivisions, which is being developed by Tammany Holding Corp. on the north shores of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish-Slidell, LA.

  7. Uknown Date in 1975 - SOWL Memorandum of Law - Submitted to show illegal canals being dug. In both the western and eastern portions of what was then called the Eden Isles subdivision on the north shores of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish-Slidell, LA.

  8. Oct. 29, 1974 - SOWL Lawsuit - To expose and enjoin the illegal and criminal dyking and damming of navigatable bodies of waters consisting of approxitmately 5,200 acres. In a vast wetland estuary habitat located on the north shores of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish-Slidell, LA. This illegal, criminal, dyking and damning of the area was started to create the Eden Isle subdivision by land developers and now also in the present time involves the creation of more subdivisions in the same area. These new developments are the Oak Harbor and Lake Shore Estates/Village subdivisions.

  9. The History of Save Our Wetlands, Inc.(SOWL) From 1980-2004 - Save Our Wetlands also did not know that in the 1980's the U.S. Army Corps of Egineers, New Orleans District granted a permit for a cloverleaf to be constructed leading into the eastern undeveloped area of Eden Isles. This was the same tract of land Save Our Wetlands was attempting to get CWPPRA funds to purchase and restore. This clover-leaf naturally destroyed more wetlands in the area and promoted future developements.

  10. Jan. 27, 2004 - Lakeshore Estates Draws Environmental Concerns
    Brock, a handful of other Pirates Harbor residents and the group Save Our Wetlands are especially concerned about the digging of a deeper and much wider -- 230 to 250 feet wide -- East Diversion Canal to replace the one running from below Schneider Canal to Salt Bayou.

  11. March 26, 1998 - Letter to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: From Artuhr A. Lemann III & Associates, Inc. Attorneys At Law, Re: Permit Application, of the Tammany Holding Corporation to develop approximately one thousand acres of land on the east side of I-10 across from Eden Isles. This letter summarizes the past illegal and criminal activities done by land developers with the help of the Army Corps of Engineers in destroying 5,200 acres of a vast wetland estuary on the North Shore of Lake Ponchartrain in St. Tammany Parish the city of Slidell, LA. This area was originally called the Eden Isle subdivision.

  12. Sept. 23, 1998 - Oak Harbor East Fight Continues with Lawsuit - Although written opposition from environmental groups and others were substantial during the permit process, neither the Army Corps of Engineers nor the state departments of Environmental Quality and Natural Resources held a public hearing.

  13. Nov. 15, 1998 - New Cinema 12 on Way to Slidell - In east St. Tammany, O’Neil has chosen a high-visibility Oak Harbor East site along the Interstate 10 service road north of the Oak Harbor-Eden Isles interchange for a new 12-screen complex south of Slidell, said Larry Haik, a real estate businessman working with O’Neil on the project.

  14. Nov. 17, 1998 - Letter to Mr. James Lee Witt Director of FEMA - The devastation to lives and property from the coming flood to this area will be a disaster to all tax payers, and to our federal treasury, subsidizing federal flood insurance. It will, of course, result in increased insurance rates to all Louisiana taxpayers. And there might even come a time, when the federal government might have to buy out the homeowners in this vast flood plain.

  15. Nov. 19, 1998 - Letter to Mr. James Lee Witt Director of FEMA - The present Oak Harbor-Lakeshore Estate Plan calls for the levees to be punctured in approximately two places permitting Lake Pontchartrain to flow directly into multiple interior canals and marina. This is inviting major flood disaster.

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