BATON ROUGE — 10 people from across Louisiana were honored Thursday for their work to slow the state's ongoing coastal land loss.

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, known as CRCL, presented its annual Stewardship Awards to honorees working in restoration, scientific research, education and community advocacy.

Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority says the state is currently in a land-loss crisis, losing up to 35 miles of coastline every year.

"We have lost about 2,000 square miles of coastal wetlands in less than a century," said James Karst, CRCL's director of communications. "So this land that once existed—it had vegetation on it, you could walk on it—it's now open water and so that's a huge amount of land that has just disappeared."

CRCL says this year's honorees each approach the problem differently. Some lead restoration projects, others use science to support their work and some focus on education or public policy advocacy.

One honoree, from Glass Half Full, turns recycled glass into sand used in coastal restoration projects.

"They're all coming at this from different angles," Karst said. "People are doing really different things and creative things and interesting things."

Karst says protecting the coast is not just a concern for people living near the Gulf.

"If they put gas in their car, then coastal issues should be a concern to them," Karst said. "If they eat seafood, they are invested in having a healthy coast. Again, if they have homeowners insurance, they should be interested in preserving our coast as well."

The awards also recognize longtime leaders, volunteers and people who find new ways to bring others into coastal restoration work.

"We need to take aggressive action. It's urgent. We need to be implementing projects yesterday, frankly," Karst said. "And so we need to do things as quickly as possible."

CRCL has held the annual recognition for the last three decades. The organization says the larger goal of the awards is getting more people involved in what comes next for coastal restoration.