The Rise and Fall of SE Louisiana

[KingofNewOrleans]

The New Orleans Times-Picayune began a 3 part series on the severity of wetlands loss in SE Louisiana. Some of the statements below sound extreme, but keep in mind that the T-P won a Pulitzer 5 years ago making "extreme" statements about the inadequacies of the levee system "protecting" SE Louisiana.

http://www.nola.com/speced/lastchance/t-p/index.ssf?/speced/lastchance/articles/day1.html

In 10 years, at current land-loss rates:

-- Gulf waves that once ended on barrier island beaches far from the city could be crashing on levees behind suburban lawns.

-- The state will be forced to begin abandoning outlying communities such as Lafitte, Golden Meadow, Cocodrie, Montegut, Leeville, Grand Isle and Port Fourchon.

-- The infrastructure serving a vital portion of the nation's domestic energy production will be exposed to the encroaching Gulf.

-- Many levees built to withstand a few hours of storm surge will be standing in water 24 hours a day -- and facing the monster surges that come with tropical storms.

-- Hurricanes approaching from the south will treat the city like beachfront property, crushing it with forces like those experienced by the Mississippi Gulf Coast during Katrina.

Since everybody wants to be like Al, they've also got an interesting Flash presentation that does a nice job showing the rise and decline of SE Louisiana over the last 6,000 yrs.

http://www.nola.com/speced/lastchance/multimedia/flash.ssf?flashlandloss1.swf

[BOSSHOG]

1. DON'T BUY CYPRESS MULCH

One might think they can't do anything about it to help but in a small way you can by closing up the market on cypress mulch. If you use mulch try pine or hardwood but leave the cypress alone. Lets end the market on the trees which grow along and near the gulf coast.

[Bluzmann57]

2. A good website dedicated to saving the wetlands

www.voiceofthewetlands.com Check it out. Lots of info and at one time, they donated 100 pct. of all funds raised to Katrina relief. Educational site, as well as entertaining.