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Dec
04, 2001
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an online newsletter for and by NOAA employees
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As Coastal “Brown Marsh” Hits Louisiana Hard NOAA Satellite Imagery Goes to Work in Field Wetland Loss Averages “One Football Field Every 45 Minutes” 
Most of us don’t known it but two narrow lanes cutting through the marshes of south Louisiana are vital to our daily lives. As Louisiana Highway 1, the slim road is a lifeline to about 17 percent of America’s natural gas and about 16 percent of our crude oil. Highway 1 helps ensure our transportation and comfort. It is also a significant contributor to the $17 billion in coastal and offshore Louisiana oil and gas that help bolster America's economy every year. But just as in so many other parts of the world – NOAA scientists report 20 percent – severe drought has wreaked havoc in the wetlands surrounding Highway 1 as well as along the rest of Louisiana’s coast. While the impact of drought has been page one in many parts of the world – active fires in our country, intensified food shortages in Kenya, extreme dryness in Asia’s crop-producing region -- the devastation around Highway 1 is still a largely unreported story. Highway 1 is the only route in and out of Port Fouchon on the Gulf of Mexico. "The entire country depends on access to Fourchon," said U.S. Rep. Billy Tauzin of Louisiana. Historically Highway 1 has been buffered from flooding by coastal marshes or wetlands. When Hurricane Andrew struck in 1995, surrounding land sheltered Highway 1 and Port Fourchon. But today much of that same area is water, with no protection from floods. Other Louisiana ports and resources crucial to the nation’s economy are faced with the same threat. Suffering from three years of drought and other yet-to-be determined causes, hundreds of thousands of coastal Louisiana wetlands either died or were severely harmed last year. “Travelers on Highway 1 watched as large areas of coastal marshes turned brown and started to die. Seeing it firsthand makes it very easy to appreciate the dangers of having open water in place of healthy coastal wetlands,” said Tim Osborne, program manager for NOAA’s National Ocean Service in Louisiana.
NOAA & Minority-Serving Institutions Launch Educational Partnership With presidents and other academic leadership, NOAA recently launched a groundbreaking Educational Partnership Program with Minority-Serving Institutions. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, Deputy Secretary Sam Bodman and Acting Under Secretary Scott Gudes participated in the celebration. Secretary Evans noted that this new initiative was in keeping with the Administration's focus on education and its goal to leave no student behind. Announcement of the new partnership represents a milestone in NOAA's three-year effort to establish this partnership program with Minority-Serving Institutions to support the development and significant expansion of education, research and professional opportunities in NOAA-related sciences. "By creating opportunities like these for students, educators and researchers, we are building futures, furthering the goals of science and protecting the environment," Deputy Secretary Bodman said.  |
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