Title: Louisiana's Wetlands: A Lesson In Nature Appreciation
Author: John Tibbetts
Publication Date: Janurary 2006
Summary: Many of you have heard about Hurricane Katrina taking a huge hit in New Orleans in 2005. But did you know that this disaster could accually have been some what prevented if the wetlands along the coast of Louisiana had be maintianed and preserved. Now they would not have stopped the hurricane all together, however, the amount of damage that was brought could have been less if the wetlands where there to slow down the storm. There are many causes as to why the wetlands were eliminated along the coast of louisiana. One is the developement of levees, an embankment designed to prevent the flood of a river, these were build along the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River has many of its tributaries run all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico bringing its sedements with it. This allowed huge quantities of silt to settle and nurish the wetlands down south. When the levees were built it stopped this process. The amount of damage that was brought on New Orleans could have been prevented if people had payed attention to the decrease in wetlands along the coast of Louisiana.
Graphic:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cement.org/water/images/slurry_levee.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.cement.org/water/dams_sc_faqs_slurry.asp&usg=__lnbYzOpNG19UO1aP8xzSVsSYoF8=&h=382&w=500&sz=46&hl=en&start=0&sig2=hZsk3x4HdkYPNk4jL0j36g&zoom=1&tbnid=PzMthmCAvwXMMM:&tbnh=120&tbnw=157&ei=UxOATe3BMOmV0QHJpaXzCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dlevee%2Bdiagram%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1362%26bih%3D528%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=288&vpy=84&dur=546&hovh=196&hovw=257&tx=134&ty=127&oei=UxOATe3BMOmV0QHJpaXzCA&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0
Opinion: I did not know that the Mississippi had such a big impact on the wetlands that were on the coast of Louisiana. People think that levees help prevent floods in the places they are built but they can cause flooding and other problems in places that depend on those rivers allow the water to travel to those places. If these levees had not been put up then the wetlands along the Louisiana coast could still be there. Wetlands are important because they help prevent flooding, they need to be preserved. In my backyard there are wetland that run throught my neighborhood. During heavy rains, rain water runs to the wetlands which taken in and carry water to a creek nearby. I never realized that this could prevent flooding in my neighborhood.
Questions:
1) Do you think that levees are a good thing or bad?
2) Do you think we can restore the wetlands in Louisiana?
3) Do you think the decrease in wetlands in Louisiana could have been avoided?
Opinion: I agree. I never knew that something we made to prevent something actually did nothing and might have worsened the case. I also find that ironic in a way. Like Mrs. DeLuca said, if we just left them alone, it would’ve slowed down the flooding. Maybe the wetlands should be monitored to prevent complete loss of them. I mean, I think its ok to maybe sacrifice one or two small ones, as long as it doesn't turn into 3 or 4+.In all, I think it is astonishing what impact more/less wetlands have on everything and that we should keep them to balance our environment.
ReplyDeleteAnswers:
2) We may be able to, however nature can put it back over thousands of years, not in our lifetime though.
3) Yes, People didn't have to get rid of the wetlands.
Questions:
1) Is this happening in other places and will there be another hurricane like Katrina?
2) How can the destruction of wetlands be avoided?
3) Is would you make more room for people and destroy wetlands, or have your state rating for livability go down?
I think that the destruction of these wetlands was extremely detrimental to the people of Louisiana. I am pretty sure that about 75% of the people in Louisiana did not know anything about the importance of wetlands. Wetlands are important because they absorb water and prevent floods, while providing habitats and food for organisms. The people of Louisiana better start getting their act together because if another storm such as Hurricane Katrina hits Louisiana, the destruction will be even more devastating because there are no wetlands. Although this does not tie into my personal life, it ties into what we have learned in class and during Station A in Station Rotation. By placing wetlands in the town they absorbed some of the polluted water and filtered it without the polluted water entering the waterways. All in all, wetlands are very important, but many people do not know this, and Louisiana needs to start reconstructing its wetlands to have a hope at surviving any large storm.
ReplyDeleteExpansion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetlands_of_Louisiana#Loss_of_the_wetlands This is a good link that talks about the impact the loss of the wetlands had on Louisiana and the benefits of wetlands.
Questions Answers:
(Answer to #1): I think that levees are a bad thing because although they stop floods along the Mississippi River, levees eliminate many wetlands, floodplains, and barrier islands, which are naturally found and less expensive.
(Answer to #2): I think that we could restore the wetlands in Louisiana, but it would be a very lengthy process and would take a while for the wetlands to fully recover.
3 Questions:
1. How did the wetlands get in this condition?
2. Why haven’t the people of Louisiana done anything to fix the wetlands? Were they unaware of the wetland’s importance or did they just not do anything?
3. What impact does the decline of wetlands have on the Mississippi River and the area of Louisiana?
Opinion:
ReplyDeleteThis is quite interesting, it does not surprise me though. I feel like the only people who would actually care to check the wetlands around their area are environmental science teachers and students. Also, no one saw Katrina coming, so it's not like they wake up everyday and say "lets preserve our wetlands, there could be a deadly hurricane!". I would not completely blame the people on this, but what Annette said about preserving wetlands in the long-run is a good idea. Like we talked about in class, wetlands prevent floods, and if they had more wetlands in Louisiana, there could have been less damage, which makes sense. But hopefully now that this article is released, people can be more aware of surrounding wetlands and hopefully prevent future hurricanes and floods.
Answers to questions:
1) They can be good and bad. Good because they can prevent floods, and bad because they are taking over the wetland and wetland space.
2) I don't think so. Like we talked about in class, it's hard to restore something like that after it has been destroyed.
Questions I ask:
1) How hard would it be to restore a wetland if they were to try to do so?
2) Are levees definitely good or definitely bad?
3) Just how much damage could have been prevented?
Graphic:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://affrodite.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Hurricane.Katrina.Help.jpg&imgrefurl=http://affrodite.net/2009/08/31/remembering-hurricane-katrina-4-years-later/&usg=__bJBXl8EyNM85SzETvxWllDlUyc4=&h=240&w=320&sz=12&hl=en&start=36&sig2=R9HVNiIN3x0ZIG0Q1-8ujw&zoom=1&tbnid=PlPSj3Pyrq0wgM:&tbnh=142&tbnw=191&ei=XUSBTaiUOo-SgQfC2rigCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhurricane%2Bkatrina%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1045%26bih%3D484%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C1401&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=750&vpy=145&dur=235&hovh=192&hovw=256&tx=118&ty=108&oei=TUSBTczNI8SX0QH6wYT0CA&page=5&ndsp=8&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:36&biw=1045&bih=484
I thought this was a really sad picture to show how bad Katrina was. People had to stand on their roofs and make signs for help because their houses were completely flooded.
I think that it is very interesting that we could have reduced the destruction of hurricane katrina. To think that all that we had to do to save many lives and towns was not destroy wetlands makes me feel kind of guilty. I think that we should stop destroying wetlands now that we realize that they are beneficial to our environment. I remember talking about this topic in environmental science. I was flabbergasted to find out that we could have prevented hurricane Katrina's effects. I do not want people near me destroying wetlands because maybe in the future they will help to save my life. We should spread the word that wetlands are a major part of our environment.
ReplyDeleteAnswers to Questions:
1) I think that levees are good because they prevent the devastation of flooding, but now knowing that they helped to destroy New Orleans makes me wonder if we should have them.
2) I do think that we can and should restore wetlands in this region. I think that it could take some time to do, but in the long run it will help the environment.
Questions I ask:
1) How much money does it cost to rebuild wetlands?
2) How much damage could these wetlands have saved?
3) How do we know that wetlands could have prevented damage?
Expansion:http://www3.cesa10.k12.wi.us/ecosystems/wetlands/benefits/index.htm
This website goes into detail on how wetlands benefit our environment. I think that it is a very good website to find information on this topic.
P.S. sorry this is late. My computer was not working correctly last night.