Coastal Wetland Impact from Projected Path of Gustav
If Gustav comes ashore on the path that is currently being projected, the coastal wetlands of Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes will likely be damaged. The current projected path is diagonal across these wetland areas.
These wetlands were build during an earlier time when the path of the Mississippi River was further to the West than its current course. This has been an area of significant coastal wetland loss, and it is a particularly fragile area because of the absence of new sediment being deposited from the Mississippi River system.
In 1905, Bayou Lafourche, a former distributary channel of the Mississippi River was separated from the river by a levee. Now, none of the sediment bearing water from the Mississippi River enters Bayou Lafourche or reaches these wetland areas. The wetlands around Houma, Louisiana in Terrebonne Parish are also very fragile and vulnerable to damage and loss. This area was the path of an even earlier channel of the Mississippi River.
One section of the central coast of Louisiana does have river delta land building capacity. This is the area around the mouth of the Atchafalaya River. This area can to some extent recover from a hurricane damaging the wetlands.
Those responsible for coastal wetland restoration in Louisiana are also considering some re-connection of the sediment bearing waters of the Mississippi River to Bayou Lafourche. This would seem to be a good idea whose time has come.
Erich P Rapp.
