Land loss in South Louisiana
The rate that Louisiana is losing its wetland areas to the Gulf of Mexico is very arming. US Geological Survey topographical maps, aerial photographs and satellite photographs going back to before the early 1930’s, to create a powerful visual representation of just how much coastal land has been destroyed in the past 80 years. The total amount of costal land lost is estimated to be about 2,000 square miles, and Louisiana has lost about 16 square miles per year. 30 years ago, the rate of land loss was as high as 50 square miles a year. Some researchers have estimated that Louisiana is losing a land mass equivalent to 30 football fields every day.
What’s to cause coastal erosion are man-made levees, that were designed to protect residents and property adjacent to the river, but blocked spring flood water that would otherwise bring fresh water and sediment to many area of marshes. Swamps have been extensively logged, leaving canals and ditches that otherwise allow saline water to move inland and destroy landscape. Canals that are dug for the oil and gas industry also allow storms to move sea water inland, where it has damaged swamps and marshes. Rising sea levels also attributed to global warming have exacerbated the problem such as hurricanes and pollution. In the diagram below it show the damages that humans have cause.
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Coastal restoration is the direct planting of new marsh grasses and other forms of sustainable plant life into affected area. Another way we can save our land is by dredged. Dredging is the removal of sediments and debris from the bottom of lakes, rivers, harbors, and other water bodies, we can then use the debris to build new land. The graph below shows the newly created marshes near the mouth of the Mississippi River, West Bay,