LA Wetlands of Louisiana Are the Water-Saturated Essay

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LA Wetlands

Wetlands of Louisiana are the water-saturated swamp and coastal regions of southern Louisiana.

The Environmental Protection Agency says that wetlands are "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions (e.g. swamps, bogs, fens, marshes, and estuaries) ("Environmental Protection Agency")."

These areas make up just a very small percentage of the total land to be found in America, Southern Louisiana contains some 40-45% of the wetlands to be found in the lower United States. This is the case in Louisiana because the state represents the drainage gateway to the Gulf of Mexico from the Lower Mississippi Regional Watershed. The Lower Mississippi Regional Watershed acts to drain more than 24 million acres (97,000 km2) in 7 states from the southern part Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico (WN).

The east coastline of Louisiana is more susceptible to coastal erosion than the west coastline because a lot of the east coastline was created by the silt deposits from the Mississippi. The west coastline is made up of marsh. However, the marshes extend inland by only 30 miles at the most. The elevation begins to increase after that and the marshes then fade into prairies. As a result, rising sea levels (because of coastal erosion and global warming) will not affect the west coastline as much as the eastern half. This may cease to exist (ibid).

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Wetlands have proven to have many functions in the environment as well as for the human population in its area. Louisiana's wetlands are of global ecological importance. Many Louisiana natives present living on the Gulf of Mexico will have to face horrible problems if the coastal erosion continues to grow at the pace it is going. The loss of Louisiana's coastal wetlands is a problem that will impact a wide range of individuals, from those that live in the metropolitan areas to those who far away as well as those living in smaller cities along the shore. The resources that this ecosystem supplies are then utilized nationwide. The U.S. is expected to lose billions of dollars from seafood, the oil, gas revenues and also commercial shipping if the Louisiana's coast recedes more (ibid).

Louisiana's wetlands are a home to plants, fish and other wild life that is exclusive to the area. Unfortunately, their habitat is shrinking steadily and about half of Louisiana's original wetlands have been lost over the last two hundred years. The state's disappearing wetlands have had a broad impact that ranges from the cultural to the economic. The commercial fishing industry in the state accounts….....

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