Designing the Bayous
Designing the Bayous

Author: Martin Reuss

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2004-06-02

Total Pages: 500

ISBN-13: 9781585443758

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Louisiana’s Atchafalaya River Basin is one of the most dynamic and critical environments in the country. It sustains the nation’s last cypress-tupelo wetland and provides a habitat for many species of animals. Endowed with natural gas and oil fields, the basin also supports a large commercial fisheries industry. Perhaps most crucial, it remains a primary component of the plan to control the Mississippi River and relieve flooding in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and other communities in the lower river valley. The continuing health of the basin is a reflection not of nature, but of the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. With levee building and clearing in the nineteenth century and damming, dredging, and floodway construction in the twentieth, the basin was converted from a vast forested swamp into a designer wetland, where human aspirations and nature maintained a precarious equilibrium. Originally published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers primarily for internal distribution, this environmental and political history of the Atchafalaya Basin is an unflinching account of the transformation of an area that has endured perhaps more human manipulation than any other natural environment in the nation. Martin Reuss provides a new preface to bring us up-to-date on the state of the basin, which remains both an engineering contrivance and natural wonder.

The Atchafalaya River Basin
The Atchafalaya River Basin

Author: Bryan P. Piazza

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2014-02-25

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1623490391

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In this comprehensive, one-volume reference, Nature Conservancy scientist Bryan P. Piazza poses five key questions: —What is the Atchafalaya River Basin? —Why is it important? —How have its hydrology and natural habitats been managed? —What is its current state? —How do we ensure its survival? For more than five centuries, the Atchafalaya River Basin has captured the flow of the Mississippi River, becoming its main distributary as it reaches the Gulf of Mexico in south Louisiana. This dynamic environment, comprising almost a million acres of the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley and Mississippi River Deltaic Plain, is perhaps best known for its expansive swamp environments dominated by baldcypress, water tupelo, and alligators. But the Atchafalaya River Basin contains a wide range of habitats and one of the highest levels of biodiversity on the North American continent. Piazza has compiled and synthesized the body of scientific knowledge for the Atchafalaya River Basin, documenting the ecological state of the basin and providing a baseline of understanding. His research provides a crucial resource for future planning. He evaluates some common themes that have emerged from the research and identifies important scientific questions that remain unexplored.

Water, Earth, Fire: Louisiana's Natural Heritage
Water, Earth, Fire: Louisiana's Natural Heritage

Author: Paul A. Keddy

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2008-12-20

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 146531668X

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Louisiana is one of the most beautiful parts of North America. It offers much more than Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street. With 25 maps and 60 illustrations, this is the first book to introduce the full range of wild places in Louisiana. Certainly the states magnificent swamps are described, but Louisiana showcases a great diversity of natural habitats prairies, longleaf pine savannas, oak forests, Appalachian forest, river valleys, cliffs, sand dunes, and cheniers. Each has its distinctive plant and animal species. Frogs living in trees, fish digging burrows, pelicans nesting on offshore islands and plants eating insects, as well as wild orchids, dwarf palmettos, armadillos, and Some of the authors favorite places to visit are highlighted and he describes the challenge of conserving wild places for the enjoyment of future generations. The book is titled for the water that carries the earth that builds Louisiana, and the fires that create the prairies, pine forests, and savannas. If you own only one book about Louisiana nature, this is the one to have a perfect gift for student, tourist, hunter, or neighbor. Advance Praise This is an impressive guide to the magical and bountiful world of Louisiana nature, and an excellent primer in why we should save itnot only for the sake of pelicans and woodpeckers and tupelos, but for the sake of ourselves. Michael Grunwald, author of The Swamp: The Everglades, Florida and the Politics of Paradise Dr. Paul Keddy captures what truly is the best about Louisianaits many and varied natural habitats. Dr. Keddy is more than a gifted scientist. He takes the science out of science. He describes complex processes in terms that are easy to understand, enlightening, and enjoyable. From the rolling pine forest to cypress swamps to barrier islands; from birds to bugs to bears; from frogs to fi sh, Dr. Keddy covers all that makes Louisiana one of the most unique places on the good planet Earth. Carlton Dufrechou, Executive Director, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation