Chicago Tribune article: As Louisiana slips away...

[Houstonia]

Good article out of the Chicago Tribune about Isle de Jean Charles:

As Louisiana slips away, 1 isle digs in
44 minutes ago Top Stories - Chicago Tribune
By Dahleen Glanton Tribune national correspondent

At the end of a two-lane road, surrounded by water and patches of grassy marsh, an old American Indian village dangles near the edge of the Earth.

All around it the land is sinking, pushing the tiny coastal community toward the Gulf of Mexico. Still, many of the 250 people who live here--all descendants of the Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Indians who settled the land in the 1800s--refuse to leave, despite an offer by the U.S. government to find them new homes.

More at this link: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2027&e=2&u=/chitribts/20050425/ts_chicagotrib/aslouisianaslipsaway1isledigsin

[sunny]

Thanks for posting this Houstonia.

[cajungal]

It is really sad about Isle De Jean Charles. It is about 30 miles away from here. I love to go fishing there. I am only 28 and there was a lot of land loss even in my lifetime. I go out fishing now and see nothing but open water where there was once land. We owned a camp near Lake Mechant (near the entrance to the Gulf.) We lost our camp to Hurricane Andrew in 1992. But, before Andrew, amonst the marsh, we had a small backyard at the camp. Now, it is nothing but open water. If we would of not lost our camp to the hurricane, we still would have lost it to coastal erosion. We have a new fishing camp now about 5 minutes away from our old location, the marsh there is also turning into open water. If nothing is done to save our coast, Houma will also be next. Houma could even turn into beachfront property as the Gulf creeps closer and closer. It will mostly happen in my lifetime. Future generations might never get to see what our culture was like.

[HurricaneBill]

Is there some way to reduce the rate of erosion or increase the rate of deposition?

[Houstonia]

Is there some way to reduce the rate of erosion or increase the rate of deposition?

HurricaneBill - from the article I have linked above:

During the next 20 to 30 years, the project would have the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers build a massive diversion system to channel water from the Mississippi River to the dying wetlands.

The corps also would rebuild beaches and restore the barrier islands, install erosion controls, plug basins and bayous to stop the flow of salt water into the marshes and plant new vegetation. The project, expected to go before Congress this session, would be the most ambitious civil-engineering effort ever undertaken in the United States, including the current restoration of the Florida Everglades.