What is Coastal Development? Coastal Development is the development of houses, hotels, or any other form of man made structures built along coast lines.

What are Salt Marshes? Salt marshes are coastal wetlands rich in marine life. Salt marshes are often found near estuaries which is where fresh water mixes with ocean water. An example of an Estuary would be the Mississippi river which is where the fresh water of the river meets the ocean water of the gulf.

50 % of earth’s population live 100 miles or closer to the coast of an ocean and this number is likely to increase in the next decade meaning that more homes are going to be put up making less natural habitat for animals.

Each year we are losing more and more wetlands. They are not only homes and nursing grounds to millions of wild life but, they also provide flood control, water purification, and also buffer storms like hurricanes.

Between 1780’s and 1980’s, the lower 48 states have lost 53% of the original wetland habitat, or about 104 million acres. Twenty-two states have lost 50% or more of their original wetlands, with California losing the largest percentage (91%) and Florida losing the most acreage (9.3 million acres). Most recent losses of wetlands over the past two decades have been mostly due to agriculture and urban development. Wetland Losses

3-6 Million ducks migrate through coastal Louisiana in each given year. The Mississippi river it the runway for millions of birds migrating south for the winter to escape the cold and have more access to food since in the north it is being blanketed with snow and is harder to get at.

Since the flight from Canada to Louisiana is such a long flight waterfowl are having to land in backyards and in town since wetlands are gone.

Louisiana’s wetlands are 40% of the United States wetlands. Each year we are losing 75,000 acres of wetlands each year and by 2210 there will be no more wetlands if we are losing our wetlands at the current rate.

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