Lost Opportunity - High Water on the Mississippi and Coastal Wetlands
As the Corps of Engineers closes gates on the Bonnet Care spillway and the water level on the Mississippi River goes down, Louisiana has lost a once in a decade opportunity to divert an enormous amount of river sediment into the coastal wetlands of Louisiana. Times of high water on the Mississippi River are very important times in the coastal wetlands land building process. Unfortunately, we were not prepared to take advantage of this rare opportunity and the loss of coastal wetlands continues.
According to Chris Kirkham's Friday April 18, 2008 article in the New Orleans Times Picayune entitled, State may be spilling coast's rescue, the recent high water event on the Mississippi River brought 900,000 tons of river sediment through the state and into the Gulf of Mexico.
If the Corps of Engineers had been better prepared to divert a large portion of the sediment into the coastal wetlands, the condition of the coastal wetlands might have improved this spring. The Corps of Engineers needs to change the river management to take advantage of the next high water level event.
Erich.
