Louisiana wetlands restoration effort

does anyone know how the louisiana wetland restoration effort is working (i.e., 30 miles were being lost each year).....is it making progress......the federal gov't is supposedly pumping $50M into the state annually to prevent and reverse further erosion but i don't think that that is enough for a potentially $30B problem. i feel that this is probably one of the least emphasized crisis (except in the state of louisiana) that has huge national ramifications (both economically and socially......many families in that region have made their livelihood there for generations)......just wanted to see if anyone had any information.

http://www.restoreorretreat.org/crisis.html

 

great post Red55

 

sounds like we found out what field red works in.

 

Louisiana doesn't carry enough electorla votes for Bush to care. Kerry is a good for nothing Yankee. Houma will be beach front in 25 years.

 

Yeah,he's a Knucklehead

Well you can certainly tell Red's not a sportsman,or at least he's not interested in preserving the fishing and hunting that helps the state's economy.(edited by moderator) Great post,WTFE!! This is a serious issue rather you few pacifists that disgrace the state think so or not! Of course the whole program is probably in jeapordy now with that DITZ Blanco phuking up the state. La. has survived worse,though. (Do you REALLY think the feds would push so much money into such a corrupted area if it COULDN'T do ANY good?)

Mod note- Check the name calling at the door.

 

I read Red's post with great interest because I am a sportsman. What Red posted was untainted by personal perspective. He laid out geological facts without any commentary. Suddenly, Lost Tiger Fan lashes out at him because the truth of the matter is painful. Would the Feds pour billions into Coastal Restoration "if it COULDN'T do any good?" I'd love to answer that but I have to maintain my reputation here as a staunch Republican. My advice to you, Lost Tiger Fan, is to get lost.

 

Red55 is right

That's the problem with Blanco she's for these 'sports fishermen' and completely against commercial fishermen. She and her bunch are the ones trying to kill off commercial fishing in the basin. I guess all those rich lawyers and doctors I.E. sports fishermen put to much money in her pocket for her to care about the commercial fishing industry here in the state.

Newsflash Blanco, sportsfishing doesn't do a damn thing for the states economy. I guess some people don't care as long as they are able to go out on the weekends and drink their beer and catch their one or two little bass.

And as far as the wetlands go, your not going to get me all up and arms about mesquito breeding grounds. The coast is gonna erode that's the way it works, hell the ocean used to be as high up as Canada centuries ago.

 

I tend to agree with you Red, that the Louisiana coastline is an ever-changing, evolving deltaic plain and that it is pointless to try to force our will upon Mother Nature. That's what we've been doing the last 100 years and now we are reaping the whirlwind. But I don't think there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. I think if we work with Mother Nature, instead of fighting her, we can preserve much of our current landmass and prevent future erosion by at least partially returning to the old cycle of a free running river dropping it's sediment all over a wide delta. Now, obviously, we aren't going to let the Mississippi River change course, nor are we going to tear down our expansive flood control system that has taken decades to build and perfect. What we can do, however, is build more open floodways like the Atchafalya and Morganza Floodways much further downriver and divert lots of riverwater through artificial spillways (like the structure at Canaervon) and natural offshoots of the river (like Bayou LaFourche once was) and let that water filter down to the coastal marsh areas. Risk of displacement is minimal because, the closer you get to the coast, the less people live out there, although some people will have to be relocated, of course. As for impact on Louisiana's commercial fisheries, that will have to be studied and ways will have to be found to counter-act any negative problems there. But there is still a lot we don't know. And I can't help but feel that not enough attention is being paid to this problem. For all the attention and federal money spent on the Everglades in Florida, the fact is that the Everglades really aren't in any real danger. Louisiana's coastal marsh zone is. And if something isn't done about it, a huge chunk of the nation's petrochemical infrastructure, not to mention one of our nation's oldest and most historic cities, an MSA with over 1.2 million people living in and around it, could possibly sink into the Gulf of Mexico. We can't just do nothing and hope the problem will just go away.