Principal Investigator Lawrence Susskind
Co-investigators Anne Spirn , James Wescoat
The Atchafalaya Basin is the largest contiguous cypress-tupelo swamp in the United States, and an important distributary of the Mississippi River. After the completion of the Old River Control Structure in 1973, changes in the flow of the Atchafalaya River led to significant disruptions of the environmental processes in the Basin, which in turn led to conflicts over how to manage and restore the wetlands. These conflicts have been ongoing since the 1980-ies, and after hurricanes Katrina and Rita the importance of coastal wetlands has reemerged to the top of the political agenda. As a sediment-carrying river, the Atchafalaya plays a key role in wetland creation in the Gulf of Mexico. The wide variety of interests around the Basin has complicated effective decision-making and planning for the last three decades.