How does the Mississippi River affect the Louisiana coast and its wetlands?
During ancient times the Mississippi River would naturally overflow its banks in the springtime, providing new sediments and nutrients to the coastal area from 32 interior states and southern Canada. Over past centuries, a tremendous amount of suspended soil was deposited in the shallow Gulf of Mexico, eventually creating new land in south Louisiana. The Mississippi River system is now controlled with a series of levees, so the majority of sediment the river carries down is dropped off the continental shelf into the deep water of the Gulf of Mexico. Thus, Louisiana’s wetland is basically experiencing sediment starvation. Current CWPPRA restoration activities are helping to change this situation. The Mississippi River has been the lifeblood of the Louisiana wetlands for thousands of years. Maintaining the delicate balance between human activities and natural processes along the Mississippi River may be the environmental challenge of this century.
