Post by reuben on Oct 12, 2015 10:15:23 GMT -8
A friend of mine, Dean Wilson, is the Atchafalaya Basinkeeper. If you've been to HOTB you've been in his neck of the woods. Stacey and maybe a couple of others know him as well. He's pretty much a one man band, trying to keep the Atchafalaya fromgoing the same way as the Everglades, although it already has experienced irreversible change. Both areas have taken huge hits in different ways over the last 100-200 years.
Depending on how you count it, the Atchafalaya is (or at least was) a free-flowing area of millions of acres, encompassing parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri. The fact that it barely flows anymore due to the Army Corps of Engineer dams has a huge negative effect. On the other hand, the dams and levees help protect businesses, whole cities, and individual houses - Karla's, among others. The cypress logging of the late 1800s and early 1900s is a done deal, and the Atchafalaya will never be the same because of it, as the conditions and therefore the species of both plants and animals have changed - mostly plants, although that greatly impacts the food and shelter the animals can find.
There's a long, long, long history of mistakes, well-intentioned but unknowledgeable or misinformed people, greed, politics, and other factors. As with so many issues, a balance needs to be found.
PRI podcast and article
Depending on how you count it, the Atchafalaya is (or at least was) a free-flowing area of millions of acres, encompassing parts of Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri. The fact that it barely flows anymore due to the Army Corps of Engineer dams has a huge negative effect. On the other hand, the dams and levees help protect businesses, whole cities, and individual houses - Karla's, among others. The cypress logging of the late 1800s and early 1900s is a done deal, and the Atchafalaya will never be the same because of it, as the conditions and therefore the species of both plants and animals have changed - mostly plants, although that greatly impacts the food and shelter the animals can find.
There's a long, long, long history of mistakes, well-intentioned but unknowledgeable or misinformed people, greed, politics, and other factors. As with so many issues, a balance needs to be found.
PRI podcast and article
