Facts

Louisiana Wetlands Facts:

AN ENVIRONMENTAL EMERGENCY
The severity of the current wetlands loss in Louisiana is so great that it is disappearing before our very eyes. If something is not done now, the reversal process will be too difficult to save the wetlands or Louisiana’s entire southern coast.

Two of South Louisiana’s estuaries, the Barataria and Terrebonne basins, are the most rapidly eroding estuaries on earth. The tragedy is that we are losing time. Since the erosion began, Louisiana has lost a total of 2000 square miles of wetlands, 1.2 million acres. To put this into perspective, the loss of Louisiana wetlands since 1900 is equivalent to the size of 42.5 cities of San Francisco. Compared to previous decades, the loss rate now is even more rapid, approximately 25-30 square miles of Louisiana’s wetlands disappears each year.

Every 30 minutes, Louisiana loses the equivalent of one football field of wetlands. If allowed to continue unchecked, this situation will have not only massive ecological consequences, but also catastrophic economic ones.  By the year 2050, Louisiana could lose another 435,000 acres of wetlands. If nothing is done, the area could be gone by 2075. 

Areas of Cajun French speaking dialects, cultures and culinary traditions are disappearing as people are having to pack up and move further inland due to wetlands and barrier island loss.  America’s homeland to Cajuns and one of American’s beloved cities, New Orleans, could disappear this century unless we can begin major restoration efforts now.

WHAT ARE COASTAL WETLANDS?

A coastal wetland is an area of land that is saturated with water.  It is a unique place hosting water of extremely sensitive salinities where its species are not naturally found elsewhere.  Coastal wetlands act as an environmental bridge between the land and the ocean hosting a multitude of both terrestrial and aquatic systems that are unique and yet highly dependent on each other for survival.  They act as a nursery for a myriad of species:  fisheries, birds, reptiles, mammals, insects and plant species.

FACTS

• One of the largest areas of wetlands in the United States makes up Louisiana’s entire southern coast.
• 80% of the nation’s coastal wetlands loss is occurring on Louisiana’s coast.
• Louisiana’s wetlands host one of the largest seafood nurseries in the nation.
• Louisiana’s wetlands host millions of migratory birds on their path through the Americas.
• The coastal wetlands and barrier islands are the natural line of defense against hurricanes and storm surges.
• 70% of Louisiana’s citizens live in this southern, coastal zone.
• Estimates indicate that every 2.7 miles of wetlands can absorb almost one foot of storm surge flooding, creating a natural buffer of protection for coastal communities.
• The continued loss of this natural buffer has led to massive land and marsh loss during tropical storms and minor hurricanes. A Category 3 or larger hurricane could result in another national catastrophe.

WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THE WETLANDS CRISIS IN LOUISIANA?

• Leveeing the Mississippi without providing a diversion of fresh water and silt to the wetlands. In an effort to stop widespread flooding, the Army Corps of Engineers leveed the Mississippi in the 1930’s but failed to provide a continual diversion of freshwater and silt to the wetlands, thereby starving the marshes of much needed nutrients needed to live and grow. Millions of cubic yards of sediment are lost to the Gulf of Mexico daily.
• Canals dug through the wetlands. In an effort to provide this nation with energy, the oil and gas industry made the tragic mistake of digging canals directly through the wetlands for oil and gas production and short cuts for ship transportation.  These canals are like highways for saltwater intrusion and have subsequently destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of wetlands.
• Hurricane devastation. With the increasing strength and frequency of today’s storms, each hurricane’s landfall in south Louisiana destroys hundreds of acres of wetlands, ravaging the marshes and barrier islands that provide habitat for oysters, shrimp, fish, birds and a myriad of other species.
• Subsidence of the land. Subsidence is due to two reasons:  Natural settling of land & vacuums created from extracting oil and gas from the land below the marshes.  The subsidence rates in Louisiana are some of the highest in the world.
• Rising of water levels from global climate change allow saltwater to creep directly into the marshes. 
•Destruction from non indigenous species such as the nutria rat, an animal that forages on aquatic plant matter and is responsible for up to 40 square miles of Louisiana marsh loss per year. 

COST EFFECTIVENESS OF RESTORATION NOW & HOW THIS AFFECTS THE NATION:

Not only does it make sense environmentally for the government and the oil businesses to clean up after their mistakes, it makes good business sense. It will cost the federal government and U.S. businesses more in the long run if Louisiana’s wetlands are not restored and preserved now. Why?
• Louisiana produces agricultural, business, energy interests, and a seafood industry with a nationwide impact of over $1 billion per year
• Coastal Louisiana is home to 35% of US Coastal Fisheries, second only to the state of Alaska.
• Louisiana is the nation’s largest domestic wild shrimp producer (46%), oyster producer (50%), and blue crab producer (26%). The region also provides almost one-third (by weight) of the fish harvested in the lower 48 states.
• Coastal Louisiana is a major migratory route for waterfowl and songbirds on their way between North and South America. It is “part time residence” to 70% of the Mississippi River Valley’s migratory waterfowl or 1.8 million migratory waterfowl.   Disrupting migratory patterns are known, as we have seen recently, to be a hazard for commercial airliners.
• Louisiana is the #1 coastal port in the U.S. by tonnage - almost 500 million tons shipped and received- larger than Singapore. Damage to this port will increase shipping costs.
• Among the 50 states, Louisiana ranks #1 in crude oil supply and #2 in natural gas production.
• Louisiana is #2 in refining after Texas and provides 25% of the nation’s natural gas directly to the nation.
• Oil and Gas businesses will have to relocate major production, transportation and processing facilities if the wetlands are destroyed.
• 2 of the nation’s 4 strategic petroleum reserves are located in southern Louisiana.
• Hundreds of miles of pipelines and thousands of wellheads originally constructed in the protection of inland Louisiana marshes are now becoming exposed to the ravages of the open gulf. These can not be left unmanaged.
• 70% of the people in the state of Louisiana live along the coast of the state. If the marshes disappear, so do the natural barriers against hurricanes and storms. It will cost the federal government more money in federal disaster funds from flooding after storm surge, (storm surge that would have been lessened, if not prevented, if the healthy marshes were still in existence).

WHAT CAN BE DONE? THERE IS A PLAN & A WAY, WE JUST NEED TO HELP.

• Restore the natural and historic flow of silt and nutrients from the Mississippi River into the marshes.  After the Mississippi River was leveed by the Army Corps of Engineers, the silt needed to keep the marshes in existence no longer reaches the marshes. Silt can successfully be brought back to these marsh areas by using river diversions and reestablishing the natural hydrology of overland flow.  Examples of this are the West Bay diversion, Caernarvon diversion, Davis Pond diversion and the proposed Myrtle Grove diversion. In addition, diversions are the only solution to fighting the saltwater intrusion issues by providing a source of freshwater.
• Restore Grasslands. Help to replant native species of grass and plants to keep the marshes in place.
• Restore Oyster Reefs. Oyster reef restoration which protects interior marshes from the wave action and erosion of the Gulf of Mexico and provides ecological benefits.
• Restore Barrier Islands.
• Restore Natural Ridges. (Chenier Plains)
• Salinity Control on our navigation channels.
• Shoreline Protection.
• Stop Pollution in the Mississippi River

OTHER ISSUES WE CAN CHANGE:  POLLUTION IN THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER

-The Mississippi River system drains 41% of the lower 48 United States through Louisiana and into the coastal waters and the Gulf of Mexico.  The nation’s growing dependence on fertilizers, (high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorous), and pollution from the Mississippi River lead to hypoxia.  Hypoxia is a “dead” zone from these abnormally high nutrients increasing phytoplankton production and algae blooms leading to an oxygen deficient environment.   Current hypoxia off of the coast of Louisiana is equivalent to the size of the state of New Jersey or about 8000 miles and threatens Louisiana’s coastal fisheries.

For further facts on Louisiana’s coastal wetlands crisis, please visit The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana

• WE ARE...

  • for the alligators, for the brown pelicans, for the white pelicans, for the speckled trout, for the red drum, for the black drum, for the sac-au-lait, for the snapping turtles, for the cypress, for the mangroves, for the bald eagles, for the silver seatrout, for the sand seatrout, for the tricolored heron, for the great blue heron, for the reddish egret, for the green heron, for the woodstork, for the little blue heron, for the hooked mussel, for the blue crab, for the Louisiana oysters, for the choupique, for the brown shrimp, for white shrimp, for the Gulf menhaden “pogy”, for the gulf kingfish, for the southern kingfish, for the squid, for the pink shrimp, for the rock shrimp, for the alligator gar, for the marsh deer, for the crawfish, for the snapper, for the tarpon, for the blue, flathead and channel catfish, for the buffalo fish, for the crappie, for the shad, for the pallad, Atlantic and shovelnose sturgeon, for the paddlefish, for the pink flamingos, for the mallards, for the Canada goose, for the teal, for the pintail, for the wigeon, for the poule d’eau, for the grosbec, for the chorook, for the papabotte, for the Louisiana racoons, for the Louisiana black bears, for the garfish, for the beaver, for the muskrat, for the otter, for the mink, for the bobcat, for the opossum, for the rabbit, for the squirrels, for the toads, for the striped mullet, for the silver mullet, for the yellow, white and striped bass, for the bluegill, for the bowfin, for the freshwater drum, for the ling, for the king and Spanish mackerel, for the hawks, for the owls, for the ground orchid, for the hyacinths, for the Louisiana quillwort, for the American chaffseed, for the snails, for the sea turtles, for the snowy egret, for the cattle egret, for the roseate spoonbill, for the night herons, for the great-egret, for the ibises, for the armadillo, for the tree frogs, for the snakes, for the alligator snapping turtles, for the water moccasin, for the canebrake rattlesnake, for the Louisiana blue star, for the southern lady’s-slipper, for the long-sepaled false dragon-head, for the parrot pitcherplant, for the gopher tortoise, for the Louisiana pearlshell mussel, for the red-cockaded woodpecker, for the gulf killifish “cocahoe”, for the sheepshead minnows, for the bay anchovies, for the fiddler crabs, for the Atlantic croaker, for the southern flounder, for the Atlantic sheephead, for the white alligator, for the millions of migratory waterfowl and the thousands of other plants and animals that are rapidly losing habitat in Louisiana’s wetlands, for the Cajuns, for the coast of Louisiana...