Democracy Dies in Darkness

A ‘collapse’ is looming for Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, scientists say

Scientists say the overwhelming majority of the state’s wetlands — a natural buffer against hurricanes — are in a state of ‘drowning’ and could be gone by 2070

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Updated February 15, 2024 at 12:06 p.m. EST|Published February 15, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EST
Machinery can be seen on a barge working on the Lake Borgne Marsh Creation Project in Yscloskey, La., in March 2023. Containment dikes are being built with dredged sediment that will protect existing marshland from further erosion. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)
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Rapidly rising seas are wreaking havoc on Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, and could devastate three-quarters of the state’s natural buffer against hurricanes in the coming decades, scientists found in a study published Thursday.

The new research documents how a sudden burst of sea level rise over the past 13 years — the type of surge once not expected until later this century — has left the overwhelming majority of the state’s coastal wetland sites in a state of current or expected “drowning,” where the seas are rising faster than wetlands can grow.