Earned Media
Photos: Mardi Gras Pass is 'almost like a natural experiment' on Louisiana's coast
Michael Hopkins of The Pontchartrain Conservancy sits on a boat at Pointe à la Hache and points to maps showing where Mardi Gras Pass is located along the Mississippi River on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021.
Alisha Renfro of the National Wildlife Federation collects a John Bayou sediment sample in newly developed marsh land near Bohemia on the east bank of lower Plaquemines Parish on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021.
James Karst of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana stands on a boat and looks over newly formed John Bayou marsh land near Bohemia on the east bank of lower Plaquemines Parish on Friday, Oct. 15, 2021.
On Louisiana's coast, some marshes weathered Ida better than others. The difference? Mud.
Ida shoved a 16-foot wall of water over parts of southeast Louisiana on Aug. 29. Satellite imagery shows the storm likely ripped apart large swaths of wetlands in the Barataria Basin, off Plaquemines' west bank, and converted them, at least temporarily, to open water. The basin has been in decline for decades, since the leveeing of the Mississippi River in the early 20th century disconnected it from new supplies of river sediment.
But on the east bank near Mardi Gras Pass' outfall and along the Bohemia Spillway, satellite photos before and after Ida suggest the marshes fared better.
The difference? A steady source of sediment from the river through the crevasse, said Hopkins and National Wildlife Federation scientist Alisha Renfro.
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Senate Energy Committee Considers Cassidy Legislation to Strengthen Gulf Revenue Sharing Program | U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana
The bill is supported by more than 50 national, state and local organizations from local chambers to levee districts, environmental organization such as the National Wildlife Federation, the Environmental Defense Fund, the Audubon Society, sporting groups such as the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, American Sport-fishing Association, and Ducks Unlimited along with associations representing all forms of energy production, as well as 25 Louisiana state legislator and parish leaders and Governors including Governor Edward's from Louisiana, Governor Baker from Massachusetts, and Governor McKee from Rhode Island.