Last Call for the Bayou

Aerial landscape photographer Ben Depp documents Louisiana’s disappearing Mississippi River Delta from above, in motorized paraglider. His focus is the barrier islands, a thin chain of sandy islands that provide habitat for migratory birds and protect coastal communities against storm and tidal flooding. Unfortunately, the islands are eroding at a rapid rate, putting the coast at risk. Ben’s images serve as a memorial to this vanishing landscape, documenting restoration efforts that may turn the tide and setbacks that may sink the region.

Kasha Clay and her family are members of the United Houma Nation, a Native American tribe in the Louisiana bayou. For centuries, the tribe has migrated farther south into the swamps of southern Louisiana, but with land disappearing, members are being forced to leave the sinking shores and find new places to call home. With time running out, Kasha, a sociology student, has partnered with the National Academy of Sciences to record the oral histories of tribal elders to ensure that the loss of land won’t mean the loss of her culture.

Dr. Alex Kolker is on a mission. For the last decade, he has been working with Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium to study subsidence and sea level rise in an effort to understand whether restoration will be sufficient to stem the loss of land along coastal Louisiana. Join him and his team as they walk us through their current water diversion projects and whether or not they are having the desired impact. Find out how New Orleans is sinking and what the state has planned to save its cherished city and coast.

Louisiana’s commercial fishing industry employs over 23,000 people and generates more than $2.4 billion a year. But the rich bounty of shellfish that the Mississippi River has produced for so long is in trouble. As rising seas rapidly eat away at the wetlands and coastal communities, land restoration solutions involving fresh water and sediment from the river are depleting the shrimp and oyster habitats—and the fishermen’s future. For local shrimper and oysterman Gleason Alexis, there’s no good answer, but he’s prepared to adapt.

Albertine Kimble is a duck hunter in Plaquemines Parish. Having worked for the parish, she knows the local wetlands better than almost anyone. In her own words, she explains how leveeing has prevented the Mississippi River from flowing its natural course and has deprived the wetlands of essential nutrients and sediment. As Albertine takes us to her favorite hunting spots, she shares how the dying marsh is disrupting the bird migration route, the Mississippi Flyway, and could eventually put New Orleans at risk.