When we talk about Louisiana these days the first image that comes to mind are the people who were stranded at the Superdome in the aftermath of Katrina. There were horrible pictures and stories coming out of Louisiana at the time, which were enhanced by the inaction. The utter inability of "Our" government to address the very needs of the citizens of thier own country, while at the same time spending millions, rightfully so, to help those that were effectd by the Tsunami that devasted families on the other side of the world.
Today we still hear the stories and see the inactions when addressing the problems that Katrina and Rita visited on the people of Louisiana. Though Rita was a lesser known storm it to affected many families and the problems still linger today. Both storms were catastrophes that couldn't be avoided, but have provided further lessons as to the effect man has on it's environment.
Please join me after the fold, for a tale of the loss of land and what it means.
When we hear catastrophe we tend to think of a sudden, extraordinary event. World Book dictionary describes it as an event which subverts or overturns the whole order of things.
This can certainly be used to describe the actions that led up to Hurricane Katrina. The actions and events which led up to this disaster began over three-hundred years ago when, Jean Baptiste de Bienville decided to settle on the high ground between the Mississippi River and the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain what in Louisiana we call a ridge. This decision which was certainly a good from a military standpoint as well as an economic one. Yet this was a decision which would affect the coast of Louisiana and it's people for centuries to come.
As Bienville stood on this ridge he could see for miles, looking out across what we call "la prairie", (the prairie). To think of the coast of Louisiana today it may be hard to imagine how this great stretch of land may have appeared to an explorer in the 17th century. Consider that since the beginning of time the great river had been feeding this area and contributing to the largest land building mass in the world. To picture this we have to understand that the Mississppi river transports sand, soil and silt from as far away as the Pokonos, Appalachian and Rocky Mountain ranges to provide land mass to southern Louisiana.
Unfortunately this great discovery and claiming of land has contributed to the damage and misuse of the very beauty and usefulness that made the area so enticing. The problem for south Louisiana is that the natural protections are rapidly deteriorating, and that in turn is weakening man-made defenses, mainly because the entire coast, including the delta is receding into the Gulf of Mexico.
Coastal erosion is having a devastating effect on not only the coast but the interior waterways and native habitats of Louisiana. Subsidence (the sinking of land), that normally would take centuries anywhere else, here is happening in a matter of years. Subsidence is a natural process, the earth deposited by the river crushes the soft soil below it. In times gone by, this was controlled mostly by natural processes as grasses and other vegetation would would bind these organisms and act as a deterrent.
What makes this so devastating at this point has been the abandonment of delta areas which speeds the disappearance of land under water. Flood-protection levees which were built to protect people and thier property, are one of the chief man-made causes of subsidence. When the corps started to build levees along the river in the 19th century, it cut off the region's main source of silt, the raw material of delta-building. Combine that with the dredging and reclaimation of marshes for agricultural needs and other forms of infrastructure. Then consider the leaching of water, oil and gas across the region and we have a man-made disaster of mythic proportions.
Today the effects of providing the land up and down the Mississippi river for farming and other uses are enhancing the problems cities like New Orleans face when confronted with storms. Billions of dollars worth of levees, sea walls, pumping stations and diversionary canals provide a false sense of security against the storms that seem to be drawn to the Louisiana coast. Satellite tracking systems and early warning measures do provide a margin of error that has saved thousands of lives. Yet all the technology and engineering won't hide the fact, south Louisiana has been growing more vulnerable to hurricanes, not less.
Sinking land, coastal erosion and canals dug for shipping have opened dangerous new avenues for even weak hurricanes and tropical storms to do massive damage to areas well inland as we saw with Hurricane Katrina. These storms have the ability of causing major losses of life and property. The sinking land and rising sea levels have put the Mississippi River delta approximatley 3 feet lower than it was a century ago, and this continues daily. Coastal erosion has cut barrier islands in two and turned marshland to open water, making it easier for hurricane winds and flooding to claim even more land. The river deltas flat topography makes it especially vulnerable to even the weakest of storms, which destroy with wind, rain and waves called storm surge. When a storm surge hits the shallows near the coast, the only direction the water can move is up. When the land has sunken below sea level it allows the surge to claim that much more ground.
The question that is often asked is it worth it to rebuild New Orleans? Not only is it worth it is imperative that not only New Orleans be rebuilt, but that the entire coast of Louisiana be restored. This is an issue that crosses all class lines and effects every citizen of the country. Economically, ecologically and culturally southern Louisiana is vital to soul of this country.
First ecologically, the marshes and bayous of Louisiana produce and support any number of wildlife. The estuaries of fish, shrimp, crab, oyster, the fact that birds from either spectrum of the flyway congregate here is amazing. Birds from as far away as the southern tip of Chile, fly the length and breadth of South America to the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, for the over thirty hour flight, due north to the marshes alone is astounding. This is without taking into account the birds that winter, from as far away as northern Canada. After all this is where John J. Audubon found so many of the birds that he so loved. There have been over three thousand different species documented in the swamps and marshes of southern La. The Everglades, Chesapeake Bay, and the Great Northwest pale in comparison.
Economically south Louisiana is irreplacable. Consider, the state's coastal wetlands, the largest in the continental United States, nourish huge industries that serve all Americans, not just residents of southeastern Louisiana. It has been estimated that twenty-five to thirty percent of America's oil and gas travels through the Louisianas coastal waterways, serving half of the nation's refinery capacity, few states would be willing or have the capacity to accept this responsibility, also it would take years to relocate the type of infrastructure needed. Ports along the Mississippi River, including the Port of New Orleans and the Port in LaPlace, handle over half of the countries grain shipments. And the estuaries now rapidly turning to open water produce half of the shrimp and about a third of the oysters and crabs are grown. Estimates of the destruction of the wetlands protecting this area, serving these industries would put over $100 billion at risk.
This isn't a new problem that people have just discovered there were the canaries in the mine long ago sounding the alarm. In the late 1960's and early 1970s, researchers had documented the extent of the state's coastal land loss. We even knew the causes a combination of levees which prevented rivers from rebuilding the delta, and canals dredged throughout the wetlands, primarily to promote oil, gas and shipping interests. Decades after scientists informed the nation to the problem, the Gulf continues to claim the land. For every square mile created, the Gulf eats five more. Looking at just the wetlands surrounding New Orleans, the future looks bleak, because of mans growth this has the highest rates of loss on the coast.
There are a few advocates that have been addressing the problem even before Katrina hit, Congress voted the state a permanent 37.5 percent slice of offshore oil revenues for coastal restoration work. But full financing , over $600 million per year , won't kick in for another 10 years. Over the next 10 years, the state will only receive about $20 million a year, small change when you consider the problem will require tens of billions of dollars to solve. It was shameful even before Katrina this administration promised only $1.9 billion to start the program.
Imagine if an enemy were to attack this country, and claim an area the size of Manhattan every six months, the outpouring of anger that would invoke. This is happening everyday, as you have read this post Louisiana and the country have lost an area the size of a football field. In the two days following Katrina, the land that was lost was the projection of over twenty years. Katrina and Rita, claimed an estimation of more than two hundred miles of coast gone, the projection for fifty years. That land is gone.
As you can see this is somewhat of a personal matter to me. When I think back so few years ago running those "ridges", hunting and fishing the marshes and lakes of southern Louisiana it feels almost as if I have lost a piece of myself. Sittng deep in the swamp under a massive cypress, surrounded by the live oaks, gum, chinaberry and beechnut trees. With the sounds and smells assaulting my senses. The lighthouse that once stood on solid ground, that now is crumbling and washing away, the nearest tree some one hundred yards distant, bleached white by salt, the lone skeleton where once there were many. There is the feel of a dreadful loss.
There are things that can be done, projects to protect the great city of New Orleans. Projects such as a diversionary canal being discussed to dump silt where it is needed. This effort has already proven itself farther upriver and is in the process of rebuilding the Atchafalaya Basin. More attention must be paid to these efforts or not only will Louisiana suffer but the country as a whole.
Thank you for reading, we have much to do.
"Time to be patriotic about something other than war".~John Edwards