Now, more than ever.
The Mississippi River Delta formed over thousands of years as North America’s mightiest river deposited sand, silt and clay into the warm waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Over the last few hundred years, human alterations of the river system have contributed to the delta’s collapse. Since the 1930s, Louisiana has lost about 1,900 square miles of land that have disappeared into open water. Recent catastrophes, such as Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the BP oil disaster, exacerbated our coastal crisis.
As the delta disappears, so does the natural protection it provides us. We have to act now to correct the damage.
