These cute, baby, Louisiana Black Bears are at risk of losing their habitat if the environmental review provisions are not removed from WRDA 2013 (photo credit: flickr/USDAgov)

However well-intentioned this bill is, there are extremely dangerous sections that threaten the safety and well being of the environment and the public – two provisions in particular will steamroll an integral environmental review process that has been in place for over 40 years.

In order to initiate projects that will protect the public and our natural resources, the Army Corps of Engineers needs this bill to be signed into law. But all the good projects that could be constructed could very well be negated by these harmful provisions. Streamlining the environmental review process does not reduce costs, does not protect the environment, and does not serve the greater good for the public. In fact, creating bureaucratic hurdles and fines will allow bad projects to slip through under the cover of darkness, and could jeopardize the very water resources we rely on for drinking water and commerce.

Stand Up For Your Water Resources!

In the first week of May the Senate is expected to vote on S. 601. If the destructive environmental provisions are not removed, the environment, wildlife, and people will face grave consequences. Please remove provisions in the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) that would significantly undermine the environmental review process – section 2032 on Study Acceleration and section 2033 on Project Acceleration.

The endangered interior least tern can be spotted along the Mississippi River in the New Madrid Floodway. (USFWS Endangered Species/Flickr)

1,600 Miles of Levees

The New Madrid Floodway is one of only four federally designated flood zones along the Mississippi River. The Floodway is walled off from the Mississippi River by levees, except for a quarter-mile gap at the bottom of the Floodway. This gap is precious. It is the only place in Missouri where the River can still reach its floodplain, and a rare gap in the nearly impregnable 1,600 miles of levees we’ve built on the banks of the lower Mississippi River from St. Louis all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. This rare and important river-floodplain connection sustains wetlands that filter water pollution, stores floodwaters to protect nearby river towns from flooding, and provides vital habitat for a large number of rare and endangered species like the interior least tern and the swamp rabbit.

But this precious and rare floodplain is in danger.

The rare swamp rabbit is found within the New Madrid Floodway. Its dense fur acts to repel water, making it possible for the rabbit to swim across bodies of water to find food or escape predators. The rabbit gained some fame after a 1979 incident with Jimmy Carter, when he saw one swimming toward his boat. (Missouri Department of Conservation)

A Scheme to Sever the Connection

The Army Corps of Engineers is pushing the St. Johns/New Madrid Levee Project forward, a 60-year-old scheme to construct a 60-foot tall levee to plug this important gap.  The proposed New Madrid Levee would sever this last remaining connection between the Mississippi and its Missouri floodplain in order to protect agricultural interests within the floodway.

But the project will have a devastating effect on the environment and the fish and wildlife that rely on the floodplain.  The project will also put river communities at increased risk of flooding.

The New Madrid Levee would wall off some 80,000 acres of regularly inundated floodplain from the river, including approximately 50,000 acres of wetlands. This floodplain shelters Mississippi River fish as they spawn and raise their young in its warm, calm waters, protecting them from the river’s colder, higher velocity waters.

Protect the River’s Wildlife

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the project “will result in significant losses of regionally and nationally important fish and wildlife resources which cannot be adequately mitigated.”

In other words, the environmental damage is so extensive that the Corps of Engineers cannot possibly replace the fish and wildlife habitat and the wetlands and floodplain areas it is destroying, which is required as a matter of law.

A Corps of Engineers Independent Review Panel for this project even stated that the “loss of this last remaining connection and its ecosystem functioning would be the ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’ in terms of the total cumulative impact” to the natural ecosystem.

It’s time to put an end to this destructive project once and for all.

Spread the Word

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Help spread the word about protecting the swamp rabbits, least terns, and fish that depend on the last remaining connection between the Mississippi River and it’s Missouri Floodplain.

If you are a resident of Missouri, send a message urging Governor Nixon to stop the New Madrid Floodway levee.

I have to admit, I was terrified to visit the overflowing banks of the Mighty Mississippi this week.  Not knowing what to expect (no one alive can remember the Mississippi delta at this flood stage), my two-hour preparation meeting had me fretting for my very survival.

American Alligator (credit: Theresa T. Baldwin)

But nightmares and warnings of snakes, alligators, and a current that could sweep you off your feet at a 6-inch depth couldn’t keep me away from this trip.  Why?  Because this was my shot at seeing the river work—this was my shot at seeing the process that built the rich ecosystem of southeast Louisiana and the land on which the city of New Orleans lies.  Though it didn’t help that as we soldiered out to the flooded marsh, seasoned oil field workers watched us from a muster station perched 20 feet in the air, yelling, “Watch out for the snakes!”

With all of the artificial levees lining the river banks, I was out to explore a 10-mile stretch south of New Orleans where only a natural ridge separates the river from the marsh.  As you might imagine, it is overtopping at this moment and the muddy river water (critical freshwater and sediment for the marsh) is inundating the adjacent wetlands.  I went with an important purpose: to help a team of scientists collect data to better understand the deltaic process of land-building and marsh nourishment.  This is a critical concept to understand, as we’re losing about a football field of the delta every 38 minutes largely due to mismanagement of the river.

I survived and it was well-worth the bravery.  I did see a snake, but we also saw just what the scientists had hoped to see—a  transformed landscape with water steadily flowing over large swaths of marshland.   The team, scientists from NWF’s local partner organization, Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, have closely studied this unique stretch of river for years.  As we waded knee-deep in the flood, we collected data like flow rates, depth, salinity, and turbidity (how much sediment is in the water).  At the end of the day, we visited an old trapper’s canal that the scientists had previously named “Ezra’s Gully” after a team-member.  The canal is about a quarter-mile long and stretches from the river to the marsh.  As we approached from the marsh end, everyone was shocked to see whitewater rapids pouring out of what is typically a dry or muddy canal.  We disembarked from the boat and surveyed an area that I would have sworn was somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains if I didn’t know better.  Streams of cool water rushed by through the shade-covered banks and we all sat and stared in amazement.  “It’s like a time machine,” said one of the scientists who has studied Louisiana wetlands for decades.

The great thing is, the Mississippi is still mighty and we can restore the process that created and sustained this treasured part of America.  Reconnecting the river to the wetlands can help save Louisiana’s coast and protect communities and wildlife that call it home.