Restorations of barrier islands can be beneficial to coastal marshes, but may also have detrimental effects on intertidal macrobenthic communities. Two barrier islands of the Isles Dernieres chain of Louisiana were recently renourished with dredged sediments taken from the adjacent estuary. This study addresses the impact of beach restoration on intertidal populations of the burrowing ghost shrimp, Callichirus islagrande. We compared sediment characteristics of the restored sites and neighboring sites (both with and without shrimp) and examined the effect of sediment alteration on recolonization rates. Beach height was increased by an average of 2.4 m. Differentiation among sites with respect to silt/clay, sand, and gravel fractions was significant (P<0.001). East Island, the primary site of restoration, had the largest proportion of silt/clay sediments (40 % of total) whereas Trinity Island had the largest proportion of gravel (12 %). Minimal population recovery (total = 3 individuals) was evident 2 years post-restoration. High levels of silt/clay loading at East Island appear to have slowed population recovery.