Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Effect Of Water Level Management On The Soils And Vegetation Of Two Coastal Louisiana Marshes, Brian J. Wilsey, K. M. Flynn, I. A. Mendelssohn

Brian J. Wilsey

Wetland degradation and loss is the result of a combination of natural causes and anthropogenic activities and is a serious problem in coastal Louisiana, where approximately 80% of the total US coastal wetland loss since the 1930’s has occurred. One method currently used to address this wetland loss problem is structural marsh management,which is the use of levees and water control structures to control hydroperiod. The effects of structural marsh management on two managed marshes in Southern Louisiana (Unit 4 of the Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge and the Fina LaTerre Mitigation Bank) were evaluated by comparing the soils and the dominant …