Very Interesting Documentary on Louisiana Coastal Habitat Loss
- Thread starter Eric Patterson
- Start date
Paul Taylor
Active member
I discovered S. Louisiana 2 weeks after losing my waterfowling mentor, my dad, January 1st, 2020 (remember Y2K, I was on a plane flying from SC to Detroit, MI the eve of 12/31,1999 but I digress). I was invited to a camping duck hunt 70 miles S of New Orleans near a place called Venice, LA. (I'm sure everyone knows of Venice today) I took it as a sign to go on the duck hunting trip in my dads honor. The waterfowl numbers were so great that the quacks, peeps, purrs, chirps and whistles would make it hard to get any sleep in our tent on a windless evening. Coastal Louisiana has been my "other woman" from that day forward. I leave a part of my heart in Louisiana after each visit to camp. Larry Reynolds is spot on regarding the vast habitat, the people and the culture. Watching the changes since hurricane Katrina are similar to watching the death of a loved one.
Coastal erosion is a very complex issue. Even if we build land, saltwater intrusion prevents the growth of beneficial plant habitat to hold sediment in place. Our salinity tolerant roseau cane is now plagued by a "legless mealy bug" (an invasive from Japan) which has destroyed 100's of thousands of acres of cane islands that is necessary to slow and deposit precious sediment. The proposed Mid Barataria Diversion would divert MS river sediment laden fresh water into the Barataria Basin to build land over time but crabbers, shrimpers, oystermen are adamantly opposed due to the long term affect freshwater will have on their saltwater harvest. Like many other lost towns, Lafitte will cease to exist in 50 years without sediment building land.
I have before and after pictures from hurricane Katrina, I hope to never witness destruction like that in my life again. I am blessed to share a camp with my Cajun "family" that replaced one lost to Katrina, Rita ripped our first roof off while under construction, Ida tried to peel the roof off, water flowed completely under the camp and out the back. I have friends that are like family in Lafitte. I had a play by play of Ida as it hit, my friends were in the hurricane eye and then the storm surge hit on the backside, water rapidly rose 13' and the marsh was rolled up and tossed onto the town burying it. Cajuns are the most resilient people I know. My sons were raised duck hunting and fishing at the "end of the world" and we will continue to pay the lot lease for our camp until the Gulf of Mexico takes her forever.....and we will probably rebuild if there is enough land to do so.
Coastal erosion is a very complex issue. Even if we build land, saltwater intrusion prevents the growth of beneficial plant habitat to hold sediment in place. Our salinity tolerant roseau cane is now plagued by a "legless mealy bug" (an invasive from Japan) which has destroyed 100's of thousands of acres of cane islands that is necessary to slow and deposit precious sediment. The proposed Mid Barataria Diversion would divert MS river sediment laden fresh water into the Barataria Basin to build land over time but crabbers, shrimpers, oystermen are adamantly opposed due to the long term affect freshwater will have on their saltwater harvest. Like many other lost towns, Lafitte will cease to exist in 50 years without sediment building land.
I have before and after pictures from hurricane Katrina, I hope to never witness destruction like that in my life again. I am blessed to share a camp with my Cajun "family" that replaced one lost to Katrina, Rita ripped our first roof off while under construction, Ida tried to peel the roof off, water flowed completely under the camp and out the back. I have friends that are like family in Lafitte. I had a play by play of Ida as it hit, my friends were in the hurricane eye and then the storm surge hit on the backside, water rapidly rose 13' and the marsh was rolled up and tossed onto the town burying it. Cajuns are the most resilient people I know. My sons were raised duck hunting and fishing at the "end of the world" and we will continue to pay the lot lease for our camp until the Gulf of Mexico takes her forever.....and we will probably rebuild if there is enough land to do so.
Hi Paul -- I live in New Orleans. Have not posted here in a long time, but I have been around since the earliest days of the site. Katrina was a game changer for certain. Do you still hunt in Venice? That is my preferred place to hunt although I have a fair amount of experience hunting the Biloxi WMA. Have a good evening. Jefferson
Thank you Eric for posting this video. Hope all is well. Have a good evening. Jefferson
Paul Taylor
Active member
Yes. Our camp is East of the Head of Passes. I have a friend from Metairie who also hunts and fishes Biloxi Marsh when he can't make it down to camp. We only pirogue hunt so it must be heaven not to have surface drive mud motors on Biloxi. One day I'll get up there.
jode hillman
Well-known member
Wow, that is interesting. Interesting and sad. We are dealing with a similar situation in our coastal marshes in New Jersey. Especially on the Delaware bay where we have thousands upon thousands of acres of salt marsh. Even as little as 50 years ago there were brackish water ponds inside this saline habitat. They fostered the best beds of your eelgrass and Wigeon grass. Which are gone now do the saltwater intrusion as well as the man made ditching by the mosquito commission, Which just accelerated the issue.
It has gotten to the point that the state of New Jersey when offered Comparatively cheap marsh land to purchase will no longer do so. It is their believe it will not be around long term to justify the investment.
I wish there were something we could find the reverse the course, but I'm not sure if we can.
It has gotten to the point that the state of New Jersey when offered Comparatively cheap marsh land to purchase will no longer do so. It is their believe it will not be around long term to justify the investment.
I wish there were something we could find the reverse the course, but I'm not sure if we can.
Through my work in coastal zone management, as a founding member of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, and now in the private environmental and engineering sector, I have been involved with this issue since the late 90's. I am actually working as a senior ecologist on a large project over there now.
The habitat loss in Louisiana is mindboggling. The resources, planning, environmental studies, engineering, sediment sourcing, modeling, etc., that has gone into "fixing" the issue is larger than just about any other habitat restoration issue in this country. The causes are pretty clear and have been known for years: loss of sediment supply caused by levees and dams, combined with subsidence and sea level rise. Salinity changes caused by oil and gas exploration canals as well as the loss of barrier marshes and island is also greatly exacerbating the issue.
Other than whole scale removal of levees and allowing the river to "breathe" and pulse like it did for millions of years, sediment diversions, active marsh building and the beneficial use of dredged materials from navigation projects are the best solutions. Like noted, oystermen and shrimpers don't like the freshwater influx from diversions, but the alternative is, in the long term, we continue to lose thousands of acres of marsh and end up with an ecosystem crash at some point.
No easy answers but LCPRA, LADNR, USFWS, NOAA, EPA, USGS, CRCL,TNC, DU, GOMA, and firms like ours are all working together to come up with projects and get them implemented to slow the loss. But sadly, given the rate that sea level rise is accelerating in the Gulf, I am not sure anything we can do will work in the long run. At some point, many of these low lying areas all around the Gulf will become untenable.
Going to one these conferences is eye-opening: https://www.stateofthecoast.org/
The habitat loss in Louisiana is mindboggling. The resources, planning, environmental studies, engineering, sediment sourcing, modeling, etc., that has gone into "fixing" the issue is larger than just about any other habitat restoration issue in this country. The causes are pretty clear and have been known for years: loss of sediment supply caused by levees and dams, combined with subsidence and sea level rise. Salinity changes caused by oil and gas exploration canals as well as the loss of barrier marshes and island is also greatly exacerbating the issue.
Other than whole scale removal of levees and allowing the river to "breathe" and pulse like it did for millions of years, sediment diversions, active marsh building and the beneficial use of dredged materials from navigation projects are the best solutions. Like noted, oystermen and shrimpers don't like the freshwater influx from diversions, but the alternative is, in the long term, we continue to lose thousands of acres of marsh and end up with an ecosystem crash at some point.
No easy answers but LCPRA, LADNR, USFWS, NOAA, EPA, USGS, CRCL,TNC, DU, GOMA, and firms like ours are all working together to come up with projects and get them implemented to slow the loss. But sadly, given the rate that sea level rise is accelerating in the Gulf, I am not sure anything we can do will work in the long run. At some point, many of these low lying areas all around the Gulf will become untenable.
Going to one these conferences is eye-opening: https://www.stateofthecoast.org/
Jefferson
I assumed you were another member who had moved on in life or maybe jumped to social media for your daily dose of duck talk. Thanks for sticking around and it's good to see you posting.
I assumed you were another member who had moved on in life or maybe jumped to social media for your daily dose of duck talk. Thanks for sticking around and it's good to see you posting.
I meant to mention this when I posted the documentary last night. This video barely has 1200 views and only 31 likes (one mine). Maybe it was posted elsewhere on a bigger channel with more exposure, but that is a pathetically small audience for such a quality documentary. I know the issues are complex and solutions come with enormous price tags, but this video really makes it easy for average person to understand the big picture. You don't need to have worked in the coastal wetland field for a career, like Carl, to see and get a sense of the problem and competing interests in play. Kudos to whoever produced the documentary.
A great read on this subject--and on other large scale engineering projects around the world--is John McPhee's "The Control of Nature." One of the major chapters is on the lower Mississippi River. And of course there is the classic "Life on the Mississippi" by Mark Twain, with this fabulous quote, among many others: “One who knows the Mississippi will promptly aver—not aloud, but to himself—that ten thousand River Commissions, with the mines of the world at their back, cannot tame that lawless stream, cannot curb it or confine it, cannot say to it, Go here, or Go there, and make it obey; cannot save a shore which it has sentenced; cannot bar its path with an obstruction which it will not tear down, dance over, and laugh at.”
Paul Taylor
Active member
Unfortunately Eric, we are out of sight therefore out of mind.
John McPhee was right too, the mighty Mississippi can't be tamed.
A French fella was documenting French General Lafayette's travels into North America in 1825. He made this mini film on La Balize, a town at the end of Southeast Pass, at the time a main travel corridor of the Mississippi River in the 1800's. My friends Chris (labs Bally and Grass), Uncle Nolan and Todd are featured in this film. Chris is a fellow river rat and has a camp near mine. Todd is a project manager for the LA Coastal Protection Restoration Authority (CPRA) as well as a HUGE advocate for coastal restoration. The CPRA is doing great work coordinating coastal restoration projects.
We are rapidly sinking and I'm afraid restoration projects are doing too little too late to help us in the marsh. Here's a bit more information on what we are experiencing downriver. The land loss relates to waterfowl habitat too. Back in the day this coastal marsh was an important migratory stopping point for waterfowl....each day, week, month, year we are losing more and more to the Gulf.
Kris Schaumburg
Well-known member
Paul,
Where do you live? I grew up hunting venice. You should have seen it a decade before you got there
Where do you live? I grew up hunting venice. You should have seen it a decade before you got there
Paul Taylor
Active member
I'm in SC but make the trip 4-5 times per year. I can only imagine. The tent camping days were unbelievable 25 years ago, a vast majority of what I saw then is under water today.