MSNBC picked up on the benefits of wetlands and the cost of not having them, writing, “Man robbed the Mississippi Delta of its natural protection from storms—ironically, to prevent flooding. Dikes and levees that channeled silt, and would have normally been allowed to build up the bayous and outer islands surrounding New Orleans, have instead been left to sink slowly into the mud. The wetlands along the Gulf Coast have been disappearing at the rate of about 33 football fields a day.”
DU biologists say that rate of loss is closer to 48 football fields per day, or one football field every 30 minutes. Louisiana alone loses about 25 square miles of its fertile marsh annually. Unfortunately, that already totals a loss of roughly 1 million acres of the 3.1 million that existed just 100 years ago.
The good news is, we can still restore wetlands along the Gulf Coast, and Ducks Unlimited and its partners are working to do just that.
Today, Ducks Unlimited pledged $15 million to help restore coastal wetlands in Louisiana damaged by Hurricane Katrina.