Mission
The wetlands and barrier islands of Atlantic and Gulf coast are extremely important: as a buffer against the Atlantic hurricanes and as a fish and wildlife habitat, they are critical to the fragile ecosystem. The stability of the water supply- and the quality of that water- depend upon these endangered areas.
This website will serve as a collection of images, links to other environmental and art websites, and artwork dedicated to raising awareness of the threats to one of the country’s largest environmental resources.
The wetlands of Louisiana are experiencing the highest rate of coastal erosion in America, losing about one hundred yards of land every thirty minutes. Although the barrier islands of Southeast Louisiana are some of the youngest and most unstable landforms on earth, averaging 5000 years in age, they are rapidly changing shape and disappearing due to the man-altered flow of the Mississippi delta. Timbalier Island averaged a loss of 20m/year towards the Northwest, as noted during the last century (U.S. geological survey). During the early 1800’s most of the barrier islands served as summer resorts to Louisiana’s upper crust. In 1856 a devastating hurricane hit Isle Dernières causing great loss of life and property, nearly splitting the island in half. Since then more than a dozen major storms, including Katrina and Rita in 2005, have changed the geography of the coast.
This project examines the possibilities of preserving and restoring the estuarine ecosystem, illustrating the lifestyle of people symbiotic to that area.