Breaux Act Newsflash - Without Restoration, Coastal Land Loss to Continue
***********************************************************************Without Restoration, Coastal Land Loss to Continue
LAFAYETTE, LA - Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and other
federal and state agencies are reporting that Louisiana lost approximately
1,900 square miles of coastal land, primarily coastal marshes, during the
20th century and could lose another 700 square miles over the next 50 years
if no new restoration takes place.
That means by 2050 one third of coastal Louisiana will have vanished into
the Gulf of Mexico. Nationally, Louisiana currently experiences about 90
percent of the total coastal wetland loss in the continental United States.
Based on USGS data, land loss rates have been reduced from 39 square miles
per year between 1956 and 1978 to 24 square miles per year from 1990 to
2000. For the entire period, the loss rate has been 34 square miles per year.
In a peer-reviewed report to be released soon, USGS documents the recent
work of the Louisiana Coastal Area (LCA) Land Change Study Group. The group
includes federal and state government agencies and university experts in
remote sensing, geographic information systems, ecosystem processes, and
coastal land loss.
Data generated from the report are being used to plan and assess future
coastal restoration. Restoring the state's coast will be one of the largest
environmental projects ever undertaken in the United States, estimated
to
cost $14 billion over the next 40 years. State and federal officials,
however, estimate that the cost of inaction will amount to more than $100
billion in infrastructure alone.
The group used historical data and the latest technology to predict land
changes, especially the conversion of land to open water from 2000 to 2050.
The report was done in support of the Louisiana Coastal Area Comprehensive
Coastwide Ecosystem Restoration Study.
According to James B. Johnston, spatial analysis branch chief at the USGS
National Wetlands Research Center, "If we take wetland loss information
from the USGS and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, we know that Louisiana
lost 1,900 square miles from 1932 to 2000, roughly an area the size of
the
state of Delaware. Based on the best scientific estimates appearing in
the
LCA Land Loss Report, the state will lose an additional 700 square miles,
about equal to the size of the greater Washington, D.C.-Baltimore, Md.
area."
The area undergoing the greatest wetland loss is the Barataria and
Terrebonne basins, south of New Orleans. Communities in that vicinity
include Thibodaux, Houma, Golden Meadow and Grand Isle. From 1956 to 1978
that area, according to John Barras, USGS geographer, accounted for 43
percent of Louisiana's total coastal wetland loss. From 1978 to 1990,
Barataria-Terrebonne experienced 61 percent of the state's loss and from
1990 to 2000, it was 66 percent. The LCA report predicts the area's
percentage of loss to be as much as 80 percent from 2000 to 2050 if no
new
restoration occurs.
The impacts on human populations, the oil and gas infrastructure, fisheries
and the seafood industry, and wildlife will be considerable if coastal
wetlands continue to disappear.
Not only are there significant populations in the Barataria-Terrebonne
area, Johnston said, but also the entire region helps buffer larger
populations and property in the New Orleans area from hurricanes and other
storms. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that about half of Louisiana's 4.5
million people live in coastal parishes. Without wetlands to buffer storms
both people and property are at risk
Louisiana wetlands are also natural protection for the oil and gas
production facilities and pipelines delivering fuel to heat the homes and
power the cars of about a quarter of the United States. Without wetlands as
a buffer, storms could devastate the U.S. energy security because coastal
Louisiana is the home of the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve Sites, a
necessity during national emergencies, as well as thousands of miles of
pipelines and numerous refineries.
Coastal Louisiana wetlands are termed "America's Wetland" because of their
great environmental and societal value. They make up the seventh largest
delta on Earth and are the heart of an intricate ecosystem some scientists
say is on the verge of collapse. They contain more than 40 percent of the
U.S. tidal marshes and support the largest commercial fishery in the lower
48 states.
These wetlands provide wintering habitat for millions of waterfowl and
migratory birds as well as home for several endangered and threatened
species. Coastal Louisiana contains 10 national wildlife refuges and one
national park encompassing more than 500 square miles, some of which have
wetland loss affecting their capacity to support fish and wildlife.
There are many causes of wetland loss, but chief among them are the dams,
levees, navigation projects and channels erected along the mainstream and
major tributaries of the Mississippi River. These projects, started in
1928
following the watershed flood of 1927, were completed in 1963, coinciding
with the first observations of major coastal land loss in Louisiana. They
have resulted in a 67 percent decrease in sediment delivered to the
Louisiana coast, a necessary process to keep marshlands replenished.
The new USGS coastal land loss maps are available at:
100+ Years of Land Change for Coastal Louisiana
http://lacoast.gov/maps/landloss/landloss11X17.pdf
100+ Years of Land Change for Southeast Coastal Louisiana
http://lacoast.gov/maps/landloss/landloss8X11.pdf
For more information, contact Gaye Farris at (337) 266-8550 or
gaye_farris@usgs.gov.
***********************************************************************