Losing Ground in Louisiana
Coastal Louisiana and the Mississippi River Delta are losing land and marsh at an alarming rate. An average of a football field of wetlands vanishes into open water every 100 minutes. Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost over 2,000 square miles of land and wetlands, an area roughly the size of Delaware. Several factors have contributed to the problem including subsidence (natural sinking of land), sea level rise, drilling and dredging from the oil and gas industry, leveeing and diverting of the Mississippi River, and repeated storm surge from hurricanes. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Louisiana's combination of rising waters and sinking and dissipating land give it one of the highest rates of relative sea level rise on the planet.
Coastal waters flow through deteriorating wetlands on August 22, 2019 in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.
Caleb Hanson, grandson of longtime shrimper Acy Cooper, sits atop their shrimp trawler as they take off for 12 hour plus overnight shift of shrimping on August 26, 2019 off the coast of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The Cooper family are four generations of fishermen and shrimping is their family tradition. With the Mississippi River at historically high water levels earlier this year due to severe flooding in the Midwest, the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway in southern Louisiana has flooded the saltwater marshes with fresh water. The fresh water has driven crabs, shrimp and fish out of bays and marshes and out further to sea into saltier water where they can survive. According to a release from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the spring shrimp season catch was down over 60 percent compared to the five-year average putting a strain on the fishermen who make their livelihood on the water.
A home on stilts sits amidst coastal waters and marshlands along Louisiana Highway 1 on August 24, 2019 in Grand Isle, Louisiana.
LSU coastal engineering masters students take sediment bed level measurements on the Lower Mississippi River Physical Model at the LSU Center For River Studies on August 23, 2019 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The 10,000 square feet river model opened in 2018. Scientists and students can send water and granules, representing sediment, down the model Mississippi River to simulate both coastal loss and restoration efforts and study the best ways to restore the fragile Mississippi Delta and coastal ecosystem.
A cross in a cemetery stands near a petrochemical manufacturing plant on August 21, 2019 in Hahnville, Louisiana. Many of the coastal parishes in Louisiana have a long and ongoing history in oil and gas production, which is often at odds with concerns of environmentalists.
As a storm moves in, a dead oak tree stands in the marsh along Louisiana Highway 1 on August 24, 2019 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Many oak and cypress trees in coastal Louisiana have died due to a combination of the saltwater intrusion and subsidence.
An aerial view of a successful terracing project that converted what was previously open water into new marshlands near Fort St. Philip on August 22, 2019 in Buras, Louisiana.
A marsh creation project stands in the coastal waters near Louisiana Highway 1 on August 24, 2019 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. Nearly 20,000 square feet of new marsh has been created by the Coastal Conservation Association of Louisiana (CCA) to create habitat and fortify marshland that had been devastated by years of erosion and storms.
A dead alligator is pulled into the boat after being hunted in bayou waters in Terrebonne Parish near Houma, Louisiana on August 28, 2019. Wednesday is the first day of Louisiana's alligator hunting season, which runs for only 30 days.
A wedding procession makes its way through the French Quarter on August 25, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
A view of the Grand Isle Bridge, the only bridge connecting Louisiana to Grand Isle, the only inhabited barrier island in Louisiana on August 24, 2019 in Grand Isle, Louisiana. The bridge, previously known as the Caminada Bay Bridge, was severely damaged during Hurricane Katrina and a new bridge had to be reconstructed in its place.
A map with locations showing land building projects, levees, floodgates, marsh creation, and barrier island restoration, shoreline protection, river diversions and coastal habitat improvements is displayed at the LSU Center For River Studies on August 23, 2019 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The facility includes a 10,000 square feet river model that opened in 2018. Scientists and students can send water and granules, representing sediment, down the model Mississippi River to simulate both coastal loss and restoration efforts and study the best ways to restore the fragile Mississippi Delta and coastal ecosystem.
So he can better can an eye on the amount of shrimp in the area, a light from the boat illuminates netting on Acy Cooper's shrimp trawler during a 12 hour plus overnight shift of shrimping on August 26, 2019 off the coast of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The Cooper family are four generations of fishermen and shrimping is their family tradition. With the Mississippi River at historically high water levels earlier this year due to severe flooding in the Midwest, the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway in southern Louisiana has flooded the saltwater marshes with fresh water. The fresh water has driven crabs, shrimp and fish out of bays and marshes and out further to sea into saltier water where they can survive. According to a release from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the spring shrimp season catch was down over 60 percent compared to the five-year average putting a strain on the fishermen who make their livelihood on the water.
A covered fishing dock dips into coastal waters in Leeville, Louisiana.
A dead oak tree stands in marshland on August 22, 2019 in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Many oak trees and cypress trees throughout Louisiana's coastal marshes have died due to a combination of the saltwater intrusion and subsidence.
An abandoned boat sits in the water amid dead cypress trees in coastal waters and marsh August 26, 2019 in Venice, Louisiana. Many oak trees and cypress trees throughout Louisiana's coastal marshes have died due to a combination of the saltwater intrusion and subsidence.
Caleb Hanson, grandson of longtime shrimper Acy Cooper, looks at the haul after emptying a net of shrimp and bycatch during a 12 hour plus overnight shift of shrimping on August 26, 2019 off the coast of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. The Cooper family are four generations of fishermen and shrimping is their family tradition. With the Mississippi River at historically high water levels earlier this year due to severe flooding in the Midwest, the opening of the Bonnet Carre Spillway in southern Louisiana has flooded the saltwater marshes with fresh water. The fresh water has driven crabs, shrimp and fish out of bays and marshes and out further to sea into saltier water where they can survive. According to a release from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the spring shrimp season catch was down over 60 percent compared to the five-year average putting a strain on the fishermen who make their livelihood on the water.
A memorial cross for the victims of Hurricane Katrina stands in the water near the bank of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet on August 22, 2019 in Shell Beach, Louisiana. The Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, a stretch of water dug by the Army Corps of Engineers for commercial purposes in the 1960s, is now closed to maritime shipping due to extensive saltwater intrusion, erosion, and degradation of the surrounding wetlands.