PARENT SESSION
Friday, August 11, 8:00-10:30 am
Poster Session 26 - Latebreaking and newsworthy posters
Exhibit Hall, Ballroom Level, Cook Convention Center
Restoration versus logging: are most coastal swamps in the Mississippi Delta non-sustainable?
Hoeppner, Susanne*,1, Shaffer, Gary2, Zoller, Jason2, Christiano, Mark3, 1 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA2 Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA3 University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI
ABSTRACT- In response to the re-growth of coastal swamps after clear-cutting in the early 1900s, there is a current resurgence in logging interest in the Mississippi River deltaic wetlands. Most foresters consider these coastal logging endeavors as sustainable silvicultural practices. Research over the past several decades indicates, however, that large portions of the coastal forested wetlands are incapable of regeneration and are degrading because of changes in hydrology and salinity due to levees, canals, and other human alterations of the deltaic environment. The spatial extent and location of non-regenerating swamps, however, is unknown. As part of a larger project investigating the restoration potential of a coastal swamp in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain through field research, simulation modeling, and mapping, we created a spatial inventory of coastal wetlands, delineating various stages of swamp habitat health. We used a 50-class unsupervised classification of a LANDSAT remote sensing image to build a geographic information system to estimate swamp habitat distribution in the upper Lake Pontchartrain Basin, Louisiana. The resulting map was verified against 5 years of field data collected from the system, as well as with 1-m resolution aerial photography of the study area. We estimate that 18.75% of the mapped swamp area has already degraded to shrub-scrub or marsh, 63.60% is relic swamp, and only 17.65% is intact swamp. Our results suggest that it is possible to map the extent of self-sustaining swamps, and indicate that logging of most coastal swamps in the Mississippi River Delta will lead to extensive habitat loss.
Key words: sustainability, coastal forested wetlands, wetland ecology