The Wetlands in Louisiana Louisiana is home to thousands of miles of wetlands. These wetlands provide a home for migratory birds and other wildlife (Goldenberg). They serve as a natural barrier against storms, hurricanes, and flooding (Gallucci). Sadly, we are losing about a football field of the wetlands every hour (Gallucci). In John Grisham’s novel, The Pelican Brief, lawsuits were made against big oil companies regarding the destruction and loss of the brown pelican and its habitat, the wetlands (Grisham). Although the novel was not based on a true story, the events described relating to the wetlands in Louisiana are, however, accurate. The dredging of canals by oil companies and large oil spills in Louisiana have permanently changed the …show more content…
Gene Turner, a professor of oceanography and wetlands studies at Louisiana State University, said, “You can make the case that flood protection levees were not the cause of the wetland loss.” One theory states that the creation of canals over thousands of kilometers by oil, gas, and pipeline companies can be directly related to the destruction of the wetlands (Carey). The canals being made are allowing saltwater to flow into the wetlands, killing the plants that hold the marsh together (Carey). “The damage coincides with the oil and gas industry activities, not the levees,” says Oliver Houck a professor of law at Tulane University (Carey). This is a widely accepted theory that, if taken seriously, can help the cause to restore the wetlands to their natural form. “The saltwater from the Gulf eroded the coastline and burned the freshwater marshes by killing the grasses that held them together” (Grisham). Based on this quote from The Pelican Brief, we can infer that John Grisham was familiar with the theory. Although the topic was briefly touched on in his novel, John Grisham succeeded in making these
Deep in the American South lies a swamp so vast, so diverse, so mysterious, perspective changes its very nature. The appeal of this swamp, the Okefenokee Swamp, as an inspiration for writers lies not only in its mystery, but also its many faces. Describing the swamp, from its terrain to its inhabitants, authors can bring out its beauty or terror, depending on their purpose. While both Passage 1 and Passage 2 define and describe the Okefenokee Swamp, they differ in their style, intended audience, and general purpose. While Passage 1 attempts to provide an authoritative, objective, and precise description of the swamp, Passage 2 uses descriptive imagery to convey its essence and spirit.
Yet, these forces did not act in isolation but rather vitally interacted with one another to make New Orleans particularly helpless to Hurricane Katrina. Culture, society, and nature all interacted in the formation of policy: an obstinate ideology of human control over nature, plus a lack of concern for wetland preservation, fueled the federal decision on a ‘levees only’ approach to water resource management. Even after the great flood of 1927, the Army Corp of Engineers ignored proposals to utilize wetlands for flood control. Instead, they continued to build towering levees, which caused water levels to rise in the Mississippi (Kelman). The illusion of human control over the Mississippi River signifies an instrumental interaction between culture and nature (Spreyer 5).
DU they do not just go a fill up a pond of water and call it good. “Ducks Unlimited is the leader in the conservation of habitats that are essential to North America’s waterfowl and countless other species of plants and animals. Because they cross an enormous scope of geography, waterfowl and other migratory species have especially complex needs. The continent’s 36 species of ducks, 10 species of geese, and 2 species of swans depend on a broad array of wetland and upland habitats at each phase of their annual cycle” (DU plan).
I live in Houma, Louisiana so I have tons of experience with the bayou region of South Louisiana. Everywhere I look in Houma there is a bayou, which is a good and bad thing. With a bayou comes many great things such as Egrets, Spanish Moss, etc. The bad thing about seeing many bayous is that it is a constant reminder that one day, Houma might be a part of the Gulf of Mexico. Also my dad’s side of the family is from Chauvin and Golden Meadow which is not too far from where the real damage of eroding wetlands is. I go down to Chauvin sometimes to visit my Nanny and her husband. I always see houses on stilts because of possible flooding that could come if a hurricane passes through. One of the issues that Mike Tidwell caught my interest was that the wildlife in bayous will one day be diminished into smaller numbers. That is because the eroding land causes brown shrimp, crabs, and other seafood to die out. Many residents in South Louisiana make a living off of seafood so to have most of that industry die out will hurt the economy of South Louisiana. I just found this issue very interesting.
The first mitigation banking guidance was released in 1995 by the EPA and Corps of Engineers. The most recent wetland mitigation banking guidance was released in 2008. The idea behind both wetland mitigation banking and conservation banking is to provide compensation for unavoidable impacts to resources prior to the environmental impact taking place (FWS, 2003). Based on the rules set forth in section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act and section 404 of the Clean Water Act, wetland impacts are reduced by using the following sequence of steps: avoiding impacts, minimizing impacts, and as a last resort, mitigating for impacts. Although the Corps has enforced a mitigation policy to reg...
Fifty percent of the original wetlands doesn’t even exist today. The water supply in the Everglades is changing and that has affected the Everglades in many ways. For one, population is decreasing and mankind needs to restore it somehow. Next, the Everglades are in need of some money to do that restoration, but where will they get it from? Last, the water supply is poisoning the humanity around it with much bacteria and many bad and dangerous elements. The Everglades water supply affected it in fixing the Everglades and wildlife.
In August of 2005, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, leaving its signature of destruction form Louisiana all the way to Florida. The hardest hit area and the greatest catastrophe was in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. For many years the people of New Orleans had feared that one day a hurricane would drown their city with its storm surge. Katrina brought that nightmare storm surge and flooded the city. Yet the New Orleans levees system and flood control was the major cause of flooding, due to the inadequate repair and maintenance failure, incompletion of the levee system, and engineering designs based on outdated scientific data.
"The Louisiana Purchase." Environmental Issues: Essential Primary Sources. Ed. Brenda Wilmoth Lerner and K. Lee Lerner. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 198-201. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 15 Nov. 2015.
This is a result from the new levee system. This system prevents the natural ways of sediment re-depositing along the riverbank and wetlands. The levees lead the sediment to deposit off the continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico. (15) This adds to the loss of wetlands along the coast. Wetlands are important to the economy in more than one way. They serve as homes for fish which fishermen catch then sell and they protect the mainland from getting the full effect of storm surge during a hurricane. “Every 2.7 miles of wetlands absorbs one foot of storm surge” (1.2). Without wetlands and barrier islands working as a barrier, the mainland could experience even more damage during
The Everglades, classified as a wetland or a "transition zone" can support plant and animal life unlike any other place. Wetlands are an important resource for endangered species and "that more than one third of the United States' threatened and endangered species live only in wetlands." Says Elaine Mao, the author of Wetlands and Habitat Loss. People have started to notice the importance and the role of wetlands like the Everglades and how they are valuable and essential for ecosystems to live. Wetlands provide so many kinds of plants, mammals, reptiles, birds, and
...n, the Louisiana wetlands are an extremely valuable asset to the State of Louisiana and the United States. The continual loss of Louisiana wetlands has the potential to have an immensely negative effect on the economy at a state and national level. Over 2 million people live in the Louisiana coastal parishes (Field et al., 1991). The majority of people living on the Louisiana coast make their living from things that are directly related to the wetlands. The Louisiana wetlands make up the largest wetland community in America and is being lost at a rate greater than the other wetland communities in the country. The suggested strategies that are being taken into consideration could be helpful but it seems that the State of Louisiana is not as concerned as it should be given the future consequences and much like climate change coastal erosion is not being taken serious.
This paper introduces the environmental concerns of the loss of coastal wetlands. The paper will discuss the significance of wetlands and the devastation that is occurring because of human activity. Wetlands are an essential element of our environment both ecological and societal; conservation will be essential for the preservation of these precious ecosystems.
Between 300 and 400 million people worldwide live in areas near wetlands and depend on them. Wetlands are mechanisms for treatment of wastewater are extremely efficient because they absorb chemicals and filter pollutants and sediments. Half the world's wetlands have disappeared due to urbanization and industrial development. The only way to achieve sustainable development and poverty reduction will be through better management of rivers and wetlands, and the land they drain and drain as well as through increased investment in them.
These swamps are full of cypress trees and Spanish moss hangs from the cypress trees. You will most likely see the swamp wildlife which includes alligators and many more species of birds. These territories have historical legends such as Bigfoot and not only is Bigfoot hiding out in the Bayou but many years ago Pirates would use the swamps to hideaway. One activity in particular that is popular among tourists would be to take an airboat adventure or if that doesn’t interest you than you may go down the swamps in a kayak. Personally I would feel safer on an airboat considering there are thousands of alligators.
The potential impacts of climate change on wetlands are of great concern. Increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases released by human activities are generally expected to warm the Earth a few degrees (C) in the next century by a mechanism known as the "greenhouse effect." Such warming could raise sea level by expanding ocean water, melting mountain glaciers, and eventually causing polar ice sheets to side into the oceans. Among the coastal areas of greatest risk in the United States are those low-lying coastal habitats that are easily eroded and which occur along the northern Gulf of Mexico and southern Atlantic coasts of the U.S. These coastal wetlands are especially vulnerable to direct, large-scale impacts of climate change, primarily because of their sensitivity to sea-level rise.