From "Nurture/Nature" the Fourth Annual Grand
Isle Juried Exhibition Catalog 2006
THE POLITICS BEHIND LOSS: ÒWashed
awayÓ1
Coastal wetlands are marshy, swampy, or
boggy areas of land that filter and cleanse drinking water and retain flood
waters, harbor fish and shellfish, support other wildlife, and provide stopping
points for migrating waterfowl. Wetland destruction contributes to flooding,
pollution runoff, and loss of important habitat for fish and wildlife. It also threatens fisheries, oil and
gas infrastructures and inland waterways that serve the entire nation. But 30,000 miles of these very pipeline
canals and large navigation
channels dredged between 1920 and 1970 basically opened the wetlands to erosion
and salt water intrusion that has run devastatingly unchecked, changing the
natural flow of water and killing native plants that held the soil. The wakes
caused by the large tugs and supply vessels also continuously loosen the
banks. The engineering feats of
the extensive Levee Systems built to control the lower Mississippi River and
the opening of South Pass in 1880 to make New Orleans and St Louis viable ports
reduced the sediment load carried by the entire watershed by 67%.
Sediment loss and the natural sinking of
the marsh, sea-level rise and storm erosion also contribute to the
problem. Sea level rise will
become more evident as global warming continues, as will rising sea surface
temperatures. A February NOAA
report shows that sustained high sea surface temperatures last summer and fall
in the Caribbean were by far the worst since record keeping, killing 800 year
old coral reefs and 60% to 96% of some coral species.1 Also in August the sea surface
temperatures were the highest in the Gulf of Mexico since 1890. Hurricane intensity has a direct
correlation to the higher surface temperatures. Catastrophic storm erosion last fall from Mobile, Alabama
past Grand Isle to Beaumont, Texas by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, whose storm
surges in some areas were over 30 feet, has finally brought national attention
to the importance, fragility and need for protection of Louisiana's coastal
wetlands. A recent U.S.
Geological Survey report identified 118 square miles of Louisiana coastal marsh
lost just from these powerful storm surges, an area equivalent to more than
73,000 football fields or almost twice the size of Washington, DC.2 Pre-K total Louisiana wetland loss had
averaged 24 square miles a year.
In
the previous catalogs for this Exhibition some of the causes, plans, proposals,
studies and initial restoration projects and their budget requests were sited
and discussed. Yet to date the funding for a comprehensive restoration program
has not been budgeted. The September Presidential proposal of $250 million for
the Corps of EngineersÕ accelerated coastal restoration efforts was later
shifted by Congress to other hurricane relief efforts.3 The public clamor for stronger levee
systems, although justified but with a cost of $10 billion 4, is
undermining the awareness of the need to restore the natural hurricane buffer
of healthy coastal marshes, which offer better protection than traditional
levees. Every 2.7 miles of wetlands can reduce the height of a
storm surge by one foot, and reduce the surge speed by half - this some call
the greenbelt defense, or "horizontal levees". 5 Levees with a buffer
of wetlands had a much higher survival rate than those that did not. Hassan Mashriqui, a LSU researcher,
said that re-establishing or building even narrow buffer zones with grasses and
willows could dramatically increase storm protection by providing effective
natural armor for levees.6
King Milling, chairman of Governor Blanco's advisory commission on
coastal protection, states emphatically Òa levee system without coastal
restoration is a non-starterÉyou've got to have both."7 While the problem can seem overwhelming, there has never before
been a greater need for individuals to keep studying, voting, writing letters,
and making strong artworks to voice these urgent concerns.
1 "Caribbean Coral Suffers Record
Death",Seth Borenstein, AP science writer, 3/30/06
4 "Levee Repair Costs Triple",Peter
Whoriskey & Spencer S. Hsu, Washington Post, 3/31/06
5 "Marsh Madness", Bob Marshall, Times
Picayune, 3/19/06
6 "Studies abound on why levees failedÉ",
Bob Marshall, Times Picayune, March 23, 2006
INFORMATIVE
WEBSITES
Restore
America's Wetlands
www.restorewetlands.com
The
Natural Resources Defense Council
Times
Picayune: www.nola.com
Mark Schleifstein
mschleifstein@timespicayune.com
Bob Marshall
Louisiana
Legislature
www.legis.state.la.us
La.
Governor's Office of Coastal Activities
www.goca.state.la.us
La.
Dept. of Natural Resources
www.dnr.state.la.us/crm/coastmgt
/coastlines/coastlines.asp
Breaux
Act Newsflash Newsletter
www.lacoast.gov/newsletter.htm
Save
Elmer's Island
www.elmersisland.org
Grand
Isle Tourist Commission
www.grand-isle.com
Grand
Isle Port Commission
www.grandisleport.org
Barataria-Terrebone
National
Estuary
Program
www.btnep.org
U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service
www.fws.gov
U.S.G.S.
National Wetlands Research Center
www.nwrc.usgs.gov/
Coast
2050
www.coast2050.gov
National
Coastal Wetlands
Conservation
Grant Program
www.fws.gov/cep/cwgcover.html
National
Wildlife Federation
www.nwf.org
La.
Wildlife Federation
www.lawildlifefed.org
NOAA
National Marine
Fisheries
Service
www.nmfs.noaa.gov
/habitat/restoration/
Coastal
Conservation Association
of
Louisiana
www.ccalouisiana.com
Super
Polluters
www.pirg.org/reports/enviro/
super25/page6.htm
Coalition
to Restore Coastal Louisiana
www.crcl.org
Restore
America's Estuaries
www.estuaries.org