Page "Louisiana" Paragraph 17

The southern coast of Louisiana in the United States is among the fastest disappearing areas in the world.

This is largely a consequence of human mismanagement of the coast ( see Wetlands of Louisiana ).

At one time, the land actually grew when spring floods from the Mississippi River added sediment and stimulated marsh growth ; the land is now shrinking.

There are multiple causes.

Artificial levees now block spring flood water that would bring fresh water and sediment to marshes.

Swamps have been extensively logged, leaving canals and ditches that allow saline water to move inland.

Canals dug for the oil and gas industry also allow storms to move sea water inland where it damages swamps and marshes.

Rising sea waters have exacerbated the problem.

Some estimates conclude that the state is losing a land mass equivalent to 30 football fields every day.

There are many proposals to save coastal areas by reducing human damage, including restoring natural floods from the Mississippi.

Without such restoration, coastal communities will continue to disappear.

And as the communities disappear, more and more people are leaving the region.

Since the coastal wetlands also support an economically important coastal fishery, the loss of wetlands will also negatively affect this industry.