Coastal Wetlands Case Study

In Bayou Farewell by Mike Tidwell, Tidwell explores how the Cajuns in Southern Louisiana have been impacted by climate change. Tidwell brings to attention that Louisiana has 40% of the United States’ wetlands, but people do not realize all of the economic benefits and ecosystem services that these wetlands provide. Sadly, these wetlands are being submerged and destroyed at the rate of over a football field an hour. The main causes of Louisiana’s wetlands disappearing are the levees that prevent the Mississippi from dropping rich sediment at the mouth of the river to create barrier islands, and the careless actions of oil and gas companies (creating pipelines everywhere and frequent oil spills).

John Rolfe is an exemplary piece of history in the world today. Throughout his life, John accomplished many great things and his actions were known by most everyone. A quick example of his extraordinary work was the first successful cultivation of the crop tobacco. This was an export crop in Virginia.

The characteristic warming climate of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene resulted in rising sea levels which contributed to the formation of the various deltas in the New Orleans area (Dunbar, Britsch, 2008). The natural formation of these deltas produced coastal wetlands that represent 30% of coastal wetlands currently in the United States (Cigler, 2007). In addition to these wetlands, the Mississippi River was surrounded by substantial forest growth (Pabis, 1998).

2. The environmental impacts of the Mississippi in the next 50 to 100 years could be devastating to that land by which the Mississippi borders. The reasoning behind this is because the silt is being washed out to sea instead of coating the bed of the Mississippi. This is going to cause erosion of the land that borders the Mississippi. Another reason is the sediments that usually go down to the wetlands will be washed out to sea and not make the plants flourish in the wetlands this could

Giving full credit to restricting the Mississippi River as the culprit for loss of wetlands is not accurate. The booming oil and gas exploration of the 1970’s and 1980’s merits a name on the marquee as well. The pipelines and canals used to transport the resources to the outside world placed a great deal of stress on the fragile wetlands. Erosion from the barges in and out of the marshes as well as the salt water allowed into the fresh water, providing a precarious habitat for fresh water species – flora and fauna alike. Plants provide root systems to hold soil in place. Fish and fowl provide an economy for the area. Enter

Since 1930, over 2,300 square miles of wetlands have disappeared and recording about 23-25 square miles of wetlands are lost each year. “This is equivalent to losing a football field every thirty-eight minutes” (Losing Ground). Human and natural activities are at fault for the coastline destruction but human activities are the most responsible for having accelerated the amount of destruction. One major form of human activities that have hurt the coast was the construction of levees. Levees are man-made earthen hills that surround the Mississippi River, and many other bodies of water, and protect people from the natural flooding that occurs.

At this moment, Louisiana is losing football fields worth of wetlands every hour all due to giant oil and gas companies. The oil and gas industry have been bidding for control over Louisiana’s wetlands so that they can engage in offshore exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. The wetlands were ground zero for where drilling started in Louisiana. These companies carved 10 000 miles of canals in search of oil and gas causing salt water to flow into fresh water marshes. The damaging effects are the deterioration of wetlands, coastal erosion and lack of fishing all due to industry activity. What’s even worse is that these marshes serve as a natural barrier from hurricanes, which Louisiana is susceptible to. The wetlands are the first line of defense

World War I changed the course of history, and in many ways the effects of this war are still being felt even to this day. It was one of the bloodiest events the world ever saw with over 31 million soldiers killed, wounded or disfigured. In Europe many of the Europeans believe that this war altered the makeup of war itself and called it by another name, the Great War. The war was not only fought between soldiers of the Allied forces and the Great Powers, but civilians were also beginning to be targeted to a large extent for the first time. Bombing of cities with the use of artillery and aircraft, the use of unrestricted submarine warfare to sink unarmed merchant or passenger ships, and the introduction of chemical weapons on a mass scale

While these events happened in our area more headline news caught the eye of South Dakota citizens. Senator Tom Daschle proposed a bill that had the potential to lead to the development of more wetlands in South Dakota. The bill offered tax credits to farmers who preserved wetlands not enrolled in the Conservation reserve program or wetland reserve program (Olson). With the Winter of 1997-1998 being so short schools, banks, city crews, and churches were able to catch up on their budgets. Schools didn 't have to call off any days, city crews

The weather in Florida is usually warm and doesn’t often freeze in winter; however, there are some freezing temperatures in some areas. In early 1900, while the frosts could damage a farmer's crop, they moved further south in Florida that is called wetlands.

Many have described the post-spill Gulf as a gigantic chemical experiment, with as yet unknown effect on its delicate ecosystem. By July 2010, one third of the Gulf’s fishing area—more than 80,000 square miles—had been closed, affecting the livelihood of thousands in coastal Louisiana and Mississippi.

This spring, record breaking floodwaters along the Mississippi River caused massive damage in nine states, totaling over $25 billion dollars in damage (Watts, 2011). In most areas the floodwaters have receded, however there is concern that even a little rain could cause more flooding due to the already saturated land. As cities and towns are beginning the restoration process, one thing caused by the flooding waters cannot be restored. Pollutants’ such as nitrogen from fertilizer, due to this area being primarily composed of farming land, is making its way toward the Gulf of Mexico. Every year pollutants traveling in the Mississippi River enter the Gulf and contribute to the Coastal Dead Zone; however, this year the Dead Zone in the Gulf

In Santa Barbara, California, in 1969, even though the spilled oil was not even very large, thousands of dolphins, seals, and birds were killed (Ivanovich, and Hays, 2008). Moreover, in the Gulf of Mexico, 82,000 birds, roughly 6,165 sea turtles, approximately 25,900 marine mammals, and indefinite amount of oysters, fishes, corals, and crabs have been harmed or killed by the spilled oil. Additionally, the spilled has killed many aquatic plants. ( A Center for Biological Diversity Report, 2008). As a result, vegetation, which are the most essential part of the ecological pyramid, and other animals will be affected negatively by the dangerous impact of the spilled oil, which probably is going to cause some problems in the ecological pyramid. In fact, any defect in the ecological pyramid may become a dreadful problem that occurs an ecological

Take a trip to a nearby university. As you walk the pristine courtyards, perhaps you see a small group of upperclassmen holding trays of food and containers of alcohol for a later party. Your eyes flicker towards the alcohol being carried in the arms of a laughing male in the rowdy group, knowing that it will only enhance their wild behavior, causing them to act out inappropriately. However, only those who attended the party will know what inappropriate actions were displayed. Nonetheless, what is unknown to those attending the party, and many Americans, is that in recent years at least 23% of women in college will later report that they were sexually assaulted (Wallace). Without parental guidance a newly found type of freedom has resonance in college students. Some students choose to abuse their newly found freedom in illegal manners that include sexual harassment. Sexual harassment has captured the attention of many universities in the last few years. With the reports increasing, many universities have taken action to protect their students from forms of unwanted sexual contact which can range from forced kissing, to touching, to rape. Previously, in order to protect their reputation, many universities attempted to cover up few reports of sexual harassment. However, due to the recent dramatic rise in reports of sexual harassment, universities have now gone to great lengths to stop further reports of sexual harassments by effectively placing restrictions and policies to

In this article it speaks about many different types of indicators that one could see in order to determine the ecological state of the wetland by my factors such as the biodiversity, pollution levels, the fauna and flora in the wetland. This relates to our wetland as we have a large biodiversity in our wetland with little pollution as well as plants such as reeds growing which indicate a healthy wetland. We also occasionally see a large variety of birds in our wetland therefore another indicator that our wetland is healthy.