Wetlands, Marshes, Estuaries, Coastlines

BARATARIA PRESERVE

AT BARATARIA PRESERVE, IN JEAN LAFITTE STATE PARK,

LARRY TUOHY WALKS WITH US ON BOARDWALK TRAILS

FOR TWO HOURS, HIS MONOLOGUE THE POETRY WE ASK FOR,

AS HE TAKES ALL OF OUR QUESTIONS

BEFORE WE DRIVE ON TO GRAND ISLE

--for Larry Tuohy

South Louisiana is full of water. High ground

created by deposited silt with a need for constant replenishment.

This is one of the old channels of the Mississippi River.

High ground now. The only stable land.

High ground can still be below sea level.

In the bayous we'll walk, we'll descend

from hardwood forest, to palmetto forest,

and then to cypress and tupelo--still billed

as fresh water. The descent will be a matter of inches.

You won't know you're not walking a level path.

Yes, it's beautiful, that pale green on the water.

But it's lethal. It's a combination of duckweed and sylvania.

Sylvania's from Argentina and it's invasive,

crowding out duckweed. Yes, those small wheels

of green, as you say, are also sylvania.

And each one is an individual plant.

Tidal surges create the real danger.

No natural waterways left.

So you've read Mike Tidwell's Bayou Farewell.

We keep it in the bookstore. You also need

John Barry's Rising Tide. He's right.

Twenty-five square miles a year disappears--

but it's not 25 square miles you can see.

It happens in such small ways--your own eyes

can deceive you. Cajun fishermen feel

a disappearance that can't be easily proven,

even when right. You can't point to the football field.

Constant, constant erosion, one spoonful at a time.

Let's stop for a minute and talk about this man, Jean LaFitte.

Do you know what a privateer is? No. A privateer--

Jean LaFitte, a crime boss. He and his two brothers.

99 vessels. He didn't captain boats. A private entrepreneur,

contracted by the government to make war on our enemies.

Like Halliburton? Maybe. The privatized army in Iraq?

I've heard that before. Maybe.

These are Dwarf Palmettos.

Indians could make everything they needed but boats,

from the palmetto. That's Spanish Moss on Bald Cypress.

Doesn't hurt the cypress. Takes nothing from the tree.

Frenchmen's beards. It's an epiphyte.

Tchefuncte Indians from here.

They took these nasty tasting clams--

Rangia Cuneata--and made their world.

These tiny shells piled as high as 50 feet,

creating a higher ground that saved dwellings

from flooding. With boats from cypress trees

they had what they needed.

This is the beginning of the cypress swamp.

Cypress trees make a nearly perfect wood.

Dense,straight. That tree may be 750 years old.

Cypress wood lasts forever. Those dark spikes?

Part of the root system. Called knees.

Spikes to keep trees from falling?

An academic argument. Fiercely fought

with very little at stake. I'm a naturalist by default.

My degree's in military history. There are still

sunken cypress trees out here. Still good wood.

So dense it sinks but won't rot.

Clearcutting was bad, but the steam engine

created havoc, too. Steam engines created disaster

carrying out the trees. Cypress needles in a cypress bog.

his undergrowth is a result of Katrina.

Giant Blue Irises used to be the biggest draw of the summer.

All gone, now. Too many tree tops knocked out

and too much sunlight let in. Oh, that--

Daddy Long Legs. Has the most dangerous venum

of the spiders, but its mouth is too small to do much damage.

Barataria is one of the best kept secrets near New Orleans.

Yes, the liquid load. A canal Alligator's been walking around.

This canal's been turned into flotant marsh.

Not rooted to the ground. OK. I heard

about the David Muth interview, but didn't see it.

He's very good. His ideas all solid.

Oh, there! 750-1000 alligator's in this park.

She's a teenager. About four years old.

She'll grow and mature. She acts like teenagers.

A swamp is a forest filled with water.

A marsh is a prairie filled with water.

Marshes are artificially stable ground.

Down there. See that pipe? That's Tarpaper Canal.

Shell Oil Company dug that channel, created that marsh.

Yes, there's a pipeline underneath the water.

It's all mapped. Relationship beween park and oil. Yes.

There is. We have to speak truth.

And then, I'm a volunteer.

There's another hurricane most have forgotten.

1893. Chenier Caminada. Do your research on that one.

Sunday, October 1, 1893...nearly 2000 dead.

The Great October Storm on the slender ridge

above the mainland leading to Grand Isle.

Jim Bodeen

Barataria Preserve-Grand Isle, Louisiana

19 July 2010