People of the Coastal Wetlands

People of the Coastal Wetlands Resilient communities living, working and surviving together January 2014 Number 48 WaterMarks is published two WaterMarks times a year by the Louisiana Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration News Coastal Wetlands Conservation January 2014 Number 48 and Restoration Task Force to communicate news and issues of interest related to the Coastal Contents Wetlands Planning, Protection and Traditions of Stewardship and Community Restoration Act of 1990. 3 Inspire Hope for Coastal Louisiana This legislation funds wetlands restoration and enhancement 8 Wetlands’ Abundance Supports Vietnamese projects nationwide, designating Seeking New Homes and Livelihoods nearly $80 million annually for Coastal Louisiana’s Croatian Community work in Louisiana. The state 11 contributes 15 percent of total WaterMarks Interview with Don Davis project costs. 14

WaterMarks Editor Holly L. Martien he editor of WaterMarks wishes to express 3737 Government Street Alexandria, LA 71302 Tappreciation to the many people who generously (318) 473-7762 contributed their time and expertise to this issue, especially the first people of Louisiana – the American About This Issue’s Cover . . . Indians; and Dr. Don Davis, Thu Bui, and Dr. Rex Caffey, Map of CWPPRA projects in coastal Louisiana, members of the Louisiana Sea Grant team, for their U.S. Geological Survey, National Wetlands Research Center untiring effort to provide accurate information.

CWPPRA agencies work with Kimberly Walden, Cultural Director and Historic Preservation Officer of the Sovereign Nation of the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana, For more information about Louisiana’s coastal wetlands and the to protect sites of religious and cultural efforts planned and under way to ensure their survival, check out significance. Photo: Holly L. Martien, USDA these sites on the World Wide Web: Natural Resources Conservation Service www.lacoast.gov www.btnep.org Jure Slavic and Nikola Vekic staff the Croatian American Society’s oyster booth at the www.coastal.la.gov www.crcl.org Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival. Like CWPPRA on Facebook at facebook.com/CWPPRA Photo: Anita Cognevich, Croatian American Society Subscribe A fisherman of Vietnamese descent continues the immigrant tradition of To receive WaterMarks, e-mail [email protected] shrimping. Photo: LSU Sea Grant College Moving? The post office will not forwardWaterMarks . To continue Program delivery, send your change of address to [email protected] Page 2 photo: Holly L. Martien, USDA Natural For current meetings, events, and other news Resources Conservation Service concerning Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, subscribe to the CWPPRA Newsflash, our e-mail newsletter, at 2 January 2014 Number 48 www.lacoast.gov/newsletter.htm The Chitimacha of Louisiana: “We have always been here.” Traditions of Stewardship and Community Inspire Hope for Coastal Louisiana

or centuries, the groves on high ridges and in the “new world” Native presence of indige- found ready food in marshes Americans were decimated Fnous peoples in the teeming with fish and game. by war, disease and exile. marshes bordering the Gulf While able to adapt and Sanctioned thefts – taxation, of Mexico ebbed and flowed thrive in this ever-chang- forced sales, swindles and in response to the dynam- ing natural environment, squatters – robbed them of ics of the Mississippi River. within a span of decades ancestral lands. Today, the They took shelter in oak following Europeans’ arrival thief of coastal land is subsidence, unchallenged since the marsh-nurturing Missis- sippi River was imprisoned behind levees and dams. Cultural resources disappear as land vanishes Leading the fight against this modern-day land theft is the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration

This map, published in 1820, shows regions of Louisiana and Missis- sippi that were home to Native American tribes: the Choctaw and Chickasaw countries (gray section in the northeast); the regions of the Natchitoches (western green area), the Opelousas (yellow in southwest), and the Attakapas (green and yellow in the south-southwest). In the mid-1800s the Chitimacha sued the United States for title to tribal lands, and a government decree designat- ed 1,062 acres in St. Mary’s Parish (yellow section in south-southwest) as belonging to the Chitimacha. In ensuing years the tribe’s holdings were reduced to 260 acres, but modern-day tribal leaders have pushed to reacquire the original land and add contiguous acreage to the reservation, increasing its size by more than 1,000 acres.

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Used by permission of Louisiana State Museum, http://www.crt.state.la.us/museum/ WaterMarks 3 Act (CWPPRA), and standing cane and continuing our bas- ouisiana has the highest beside CWPPRA to repre- ket-making tradition, and Lpopulation of American sent her tribe in this fight is protecting culturally import- Indian tribes and organi- Kimberly Walden, Cultural ant sites,” said Walden. “To Director and Historic Pres- have a voice in the conserva- zations in the Southeast. ervation Officer of the Sover- tion planning process, Loui- Of the four federally rec- eign Nation of the Chitima- siana’s four federally recog- ognized tribes in the state, cha Tribe of Louisiana. nized tribes – the Chitima- only the Chitimacha has cha, Jena Band of Choctaw, lived continuously in the Thousands of years ago, the Coushatta and Tunica-Biloxi Chitimacha ruled the coast- – formed a council at the coastal region. Four coastal al region. Archaeological invitation of the United tribes are among the 10 evidence indicates that the States Department of Agri- state-recognized tribes: the tribe has continuously occu- culture Natural Resources Point-au-Chien Indian Tribe, pied the Bayou Teche area Conservation Service. The United Houma Nation, Isle since at least 800 B.C. “Our Tribal Conservation Adviso- ancestral lands encompass ry Council helps to identify de Jean Charles Band and all of coastal Louisiana,” significant cultural resourc- Grand Caillou/Dulac Band. says Walden. “At one time we es, educate landowners on Additionally, at least eight were the most powerful tribe the importance of those tribal community-based on the northern Gulf Coast; resources and protect areas as many as 20,000 people that are of historic, religious, organizations represent fished, farmed, and raised and cultural significance to residents who trace their families in villages through- these tribes.” ancestry back to indigenous out the region’s rich and people. fertile marshes.”

Land theft by man and nature has reduced the geo- graphic footprint of today’s Chitimacha Tribe, but gen- erations of Chitimacha have left a cultural legacy across the entire Louisiana coast. Walden and others like her are vigilant in their efforts to protect this legacy.

“We are preserving our heritage by teaching our children the language of our ancestors, sharing stories of our elders, cultivating river

An American Indian woman living in Louisiana’s wetlands circa 1907. Photo provided by Dr. Don Davis of LA Sea Grant. Original from the Smithsonian In- stitution, Dr. John R Swanton Collection

4 January 2014 Number 48 In her capacity as Tribal among Louisiana’s Native says Verdin. “Saltwater Historic Preservation Officer, Americans; deterioration intrusion has crippled Walden advises federal agen- of protective wetlands and our way of life. There’s no cies and parishes of sites the disappearance of bar- place to raise cattle or farm and artifacts potentially at rier islands increase the outside the levees. Marshes risk in CWPPRA restoration vulnerability of those who where we used to hunt project areas. “We might have lived near the Gulf for and trap animals are open make recommendations to centuries. “Used to be, when water now. As people grow avoid impacting a village a hurricane blew through, up, there’s no place to build site or disturbing burial it might cause some dam- homes. People move away. In grounds,” says Walden. “On age, flood our homes,” says time, we will cease to exist occasion we suggest alter- Chuckie Verdin, chairman of as a community.” nate restoration techniques the Pointe-au-Chien Indian to prevent damaging histor- Tribe. “We’d just clean up Verdin supports rebuilding ic or sacred sites, or share and rebuild. But with land barrier islands, undertaken information such as the loss, there’s nothing to come by such CWPPRA projects location of shell middens back to. The land’s just going as East Timbalier Island that might make a certain away.” Restoration (TE-25, TE-30 restoration method prefera- and TE-40) and West Belle ble to others. Our work with Once self-sufficient, Pass Barrier Headland CWPPRA agencies gives us communities of Native Restoration (TE-52), that an opportunity to protect the American ancestry are replenish sandy beaches land that is sacred to our struggling to maintain their and restore back marshes. people.” cultural identity as they lose Strengthening this first line traditional foods, medicines of defense against the ero- Culture and identity and sources of livelihoods sive powers of storm surge linked to the land along with their homes and wave action is an im- Awareness of coastal ero- and land. “Living along portant tool in protecting the sion’s threat is widespread the waterways, we always lands of Louisiana’s native made our living by fishing, people. oystering and crabbing; by farming and raising cattle,” Verdin also supports plans for diversions, such as CWPPRA projects West Bay

he Historic Preservation Act requires federal Tagencies to consult with federally recognized American Indian tribes regarding the religious and cultural significance of ancestral, aboriginal, or ceded tribal lands. Working with Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) Task Force agencies on a government-to-government basis, the Chitimacha Tribe of Louisiana is vigilant in its efforts to save and protect coastal ancestral lands. xxxx

WaterMarks 5 tive mapping. “Be- cause trappers and fishermen go out in the wetlands every day, they know how tides change, how currents run, what plants flourish, where old, sub- merged structures lie in the waterways,” says Shirley Laska, professor emerita of sociology at the University of New Orleans. “They depend on know- ing these things to

Holly L. Martien, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service earn their living.” Cultivating the river cane used in Chitimacha basketry maintains this cultural facet of the tribe. Since 2001 the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service has worked with the tribe through a consulta- Seeking to increase tive process to propagate and establish on tribal land the varieties of river cane traditionally used by their influence on Chitimacha basket weavers. conservation issues, in 2012 four Sediment Diversion (MR-03) homes, or shielding cemeter- state-recognized Indian and Bohemia Mississippi ies and mounds from erosion tribes founded the First Peo- River Reintroduction (BS- – could make a difference.” ples’ Conservation Council 15). “Some fishermen object of Louisiana. With the goal to diversions’ effects on Tapping into of becoming a model for shrimp and oysters. But if native knowledge restoring native lands, water there is no fresh water com- In their fight to preserve and air, the council facili- ing into the marshes, they Louisiana’s wetlands, res- tates communication and just erode and vanish more toration professionals are cooperation among tribes quickly,” says Verdin. increasingly incorporating and restoration agencies. native peoples’ traditional “Through the council we can Theresa Dardar, a Pointe- ecological knowledge of the work directly with state and au-Chien council member, coastal environment into federal agencies to identify recommends expanding project planning and de- and solve natural resource restoration planning to pro- sign. Coupling remote-sens- issues on tribal lands,” says tect more areas and include ing technology with local Dardar, who serves as the different ideas. “Restoration communities’ insight into council’s vice president. involves more than levees the wetlands’ sustainable and flood gates,” she says. components and vulnerable The council encourages trib- “Those measures leave out attributes, the University of al members to participate in bayou areas like ours. Sim- New Orleans undertook SCI- restoration activities. “In all ple practices – like elevating T.E.K., a project of collabora- the communities involved in First People,” says Kristina

6 January 2014 Number 48 Peterson, a Presbyterian Old ways forge way of life with them, who is pastor in coastal Louisiana, a future path next?” asks Albert Naquin, “you will find people express- chief of the Isle de Jean Along with Louisiana’s wet- ing their stewardship of the Charles Band of Biloxi- lands, native coastal peoples land by attending meetings Chitimacha Indians. and their traditional way of and becoming knowledge- life are at risk of vanishing able about protection and As climate change exacer- from the Earth. “Asked ‘why restoration plans.” bates conditions of land loss, stay when you are at such sea-level rise and disrup- risk,’ Indians reply that they Tribal members’ sense of tions in food sources, coastal stay to honor and defend the stewardship permeates residents across the globe ecosystem; they see their their relationships to their will confront the issues role as advocates for the community as well as to the that Louisiana’s indigenous environment,” says Peterson. environment. Long-standing peoples face today. Their “They say, ‘If we don’t stay traditions of independence community traditions may and demonstrate the impor- and mutual support increase provide insight for dealing tance of the places where we their resilience and surviv- with environmental change. live, there will be no one to al capabilities. “Following “Engaged in becoming as fight for them. They will be the hurricanes of the past resilient and creative as gone.’” decade,” says Dardar, “we possible until they have to helped each other rebuild, move,” says Peterson, “Na- “If we can be viewed as a just as our ancestors used tive Americans encourage disposable people, with our to do. Almost everyone came us to think about what we lands left to perish and our back to the community.” are doing now to prepare for the time when relocations become inevitable.”

“We have strong ties to land,” says Walden. “In the past, we were forced to sur- render almost all of our land, but that does not mean we surrendered our culture, our sacred sites, or our traditions. Today, we are working to protect our heritage. CWPPRA is helping.” WM

Colors, shapes and patterns distinguish traditional Chitimacha basketry. Using techniques dating back hundreds, if not thousands, of years, the Chitimacha gather, strip, dye and weave native river cane into mats or containers that once were used to hold fruits, fish and other foodstuffs. Christine Paul, pictured at left, was one in a long line of the tribe’s basket weavers. Photo used by permission of the McIlhenny Company Archives, Avery Island, Louisiana

WaterMarks 7 “War was hell. Heaven is here” Wetlands’ Abundance Supports Vietnamese Seeking New Homes and Livelihoods

ierre Le of Lafayette during the day, go to school the subtropical climate and describes himself as at night.” proximity to water reminded Pa simple guy. In 1975, them of home. Strangers to at the close of the Viet Nam In the late 20th century, American culture and facing war, the 33-year-old refugee immigrants from Viet Nam a formidable language barri- came to the United States. became the newest com- er, many found their willing- Comfortable in weather sim- munity to invigorate the ness to work hard won them ilar to what he had known rich cultural montage of in his native land, Le set Louisiana. Between 1975 about rebuilding his life in and 2000, approximately Plying the Gulf waters off the Louisiana 25,000 Vietnamese refugees coast, fisherman Robert Nguyen, of Louisiana. “I restudy every- Vietnamese descent, pulls in the nets on thing,” Le says. “I wash cars settled in Louisiana, where his shrimp boat. LSU Sea Grant College Program

8 January 2014 Number 48 jobs in the fishing industry. and we’re going to make it By 2010, one out of every together.” three commercial seafood workers in the Gulf region “It’s Mother Nature – was Vietnamese, and 80 per- what can you do?” cent of employed Vietnamese Working on the water and Americans worked in jobs dependent on natural re- connected to the seafood sources for their livelihood, industry. Vietnamese fishermen have seen the environment The arc of Le’s success change over the past 20 exemplifies the journey of years. “Fishermen under- many Vietnamese immi- stand the connection be- grants in Louisiana. Within tween healthy estuaries, a year he gave up washing shrimping, and economics,” cars and went to work in

says Thu Bui, a descendent LSU Sea Grant College Program the oil industry. At the same of Vietnamese immigrants time he became involved who works as a marine Each ethnic group settling in coastal Louisiana with Vietnamese boat peo- has added its cooking techniques and flavors agent with LSU’s Ag Center to the region’s culinary traditions. Abundant ple who began to arrive in and the Louisiana Sea Grant fresh seafood provides the base for many of 1978, helping them find jobs program. “Coastal wetlands the dishes in Louisiana’s storied cuisine. fishing, mending nets and fulfill essential needs of welding. “We work hard to shrimp in early stages of survive,” Le says. “Year by their life cycle, providing Land loss exacerbates the year, we see opportunity, rise nursery grounds and food danger of storms by destroy- up step by step.” and shelter. The health and ing expansive, wave-calming abundance of adult shrimp marshes. Thus, CWPPRA Shrimping is arduous, phys- are directly related to the projects are crucial not only ical work, but in Louisiana’s health of the wetlands. to sustaining Louisiana’s bountiful waters the Viet- Coastal restoration is im- fisheries but also to protect- namese took advantage of portant to the Vietnamese ing the region’s people and the opportunities it offered. community because wet- resources. “Habitat resto- “We support each other like lands created through the ration creates a buffer to a big family – that’s the only Coastal Wetlands Planning, hurricane storms and wave way to make it,” says Joseph Protection and Restoration action that affect the coast’s Doan. Doan, now manager Act (CWPPRA) may become immigrant populations.” of a seafood dock in Intra- new nursery grounds for says Bui. coastal City, emigrated from shrimp.” Viet Nam 38 years ago. “I Bui’s understanding of am grateful for the opportu- “This year, crab, shrimp, fish Vietnamese culture and lan- nities this nation gave me. — fishermen are not catch- guage facilitates outreach to Now, if I know something, ing a lot of fish,” says Doan. increase community engage- I put it back into the com- “Is it weather? Oil spill? The ment with coastal issues. munity to help other people. Earth is changing – what CWPPRA relies on local in- That’s how I live life – reach- is causing that? We worry put to develop projects that ing out, giving a hand. We about flood. If a big storm best serve affected residents, are a small community. We hits, like Katrina or Ike, we and invites citizens to partic- live together, work together, would lose everything.” ipate in project planning and

WaterMarks 9 selection. Bui encourages Giuseppe Anthony Tran, “We don’t know when Moth- Vietnamese fishermen to be- parish coordinator at Mary, er Nature will hit,” says come involved. “In the past Queen of Vietnam Catholic Doan, “so be good. Live good few years the Vietnamese Church in New Orleans, life. Live life honestly. Take have become better educated cites cultural attributes that care of each other.” As they about coastal problems and will sustain the Vietnamese become increasingly aware potential solutions,” says immigrant community in of the ecological crisis en- Bui. “They see firsthand how the face of change. “We have dangering the foundation change is impacting their gone through so many exo- of their early success in the environment and have modi- duses, migrations and evac- United States, the Vietnam- fied their behaviors to be- uations due to war times in ese of coastal Louisiana are come better environmental the past that endurance has learning to expand their stewards. They are willing to become part of our immune stewardship to include do their part; they just need system,” he says. “We are a Mother Nature. WM some help understanding people who can adapt and what they can do to make a adjust our lives to any difference.” situation.” LSU Sea Grant College Program

First settling along the Gulf coast nearly 40 years ago, Vietnamese immigrants prospered by undertaking hard work in Louisiana’s seafood industry. Observing how wetland loss is threatening the resource base upon which their community built its success has inspired appreciation of CWPPRA’s restoration projects.

10 January 2014 Number 48 “Filling Oyster Sacks” by Marian Brister Martinez. Oil on canvas, 30 x 20 inches. Used by permission of the artist.

world. Many were drawn to Louisiana; its latitude, weather and coastal environment felt familiar to them. Fertile land between the river and bayou supported farming, and the bountiful waters sustained livelihoods in fishing. Recognizing the profitability of commerce in oysters, the entrepreneurial Croatians became dominant in the industry by developing cultivation techniques and undertaking the hard labor of growing and har- vesting the bivalves. “They came with little or nothing in their pockets,” says Dave Cvitanovich, a Louisiana oysterman of Croatian descent, “but with hard work, they made a good living for themselves.” No strangers to hardship “We are survivors; it’s in our blood.” Like all coastal residents, Croatian Americans have Coastal Louisiana’s suffered from the natural disasters that periodically sweep over the land – hur- Croatian Community ricanes that wipe out homes and businesses, freezes hen Louisiana doing what she was used that kill the citrus groves, artist Marian Bris- to – working hard outdoors fluctuations in salinity that ter Martinez re- every day, cultivating her W destroy oyster beds. “Disas- members her grandmother, orange grove, managing her ters make us tougher,” says she pictures her wearing a packing house and tending Barbara Oustalet, an offi- babushka with a shovel in her flowers.” cer in the Croatian Ameri- her hand. “She came from can Society based in Belle a family that grew olives In the 19th and early 20th Chasse, Louisiana. “Our an- and grapes in the hills of centuries, immigrants cestors were survivors, and coastal Croatia,” Martinez from the Adriatic country that characteristic continues says. “When she came to of Croatia were looking to in us today. It’s in our blood. Louisiana, she continued better their lives in the new

WaterMarks 11 Two Cajun friends, Earl Melancon, Distin- guished Service Professor of Biological

Lane Lefort Sciences at Nicholls State University (left) and Buddy Daisy, owner of Daisy Seafood (right), were interviewed for CWPPRA’s oral history project (http://lacoast.gov/new/GetInvolved/ DandM.aspx). In weaving the tale of being Louisiana oystermen they discuss the rela- tionship between oysters and ever-changing conditions in the wetlands. “As oysters go, so goes the estuary,” says Dr. Melancon.

When I was a child, we lost and grief,” she says. “The area remembers a time our home twice. My parents second time, grief and disap- when there was a lot more did not dwell on it; each time pointment. But you have the land mass outside the they rebuilt and continued experience of living through levees,” says Chris Leopold, their life in Buras.” it and you develop a game state representative for plan. It’s never fun – actu- the district encompassing Time and again, disasters ally it’s quite awful – but Plaquemines Parish west force these residents to you learn the best way, the of the Mississippi River, decide whether to rebuild easiest and most affordable “when there was a different or retreat from the coastal way, to rebound.” footprint of the estuary.” marshes. People with por- table jobs might move to Martinez believes projects Cvitanovich catalogs the higher ground – even three conducted under the Coastal changes he has seen over feet offers a sense of safety. Wetlands Planning, Protec- the course of his lifetime. But those whose livelihoods tion and Restoration Act “Land subsiding. Water table are tied to the water may not (CWPPRA) contribute to the rising. Salt water advancing. have that choice. Martinez preservation of Louisiana’s Marshes disappearing. When grew up in Triumph, a close- Croatian community. “I’ve I was growing up the bay- knit Croatian American le- witnessed the hardships and ou was peaceful, the marsh vee-based community in the joys of living in a coastal grass vast and thick. I could go anywhere in a small boat. Mississippi River delta south environment; it’s a unique Now it’s open water.” of Buras. “In 1962 a hard place to live,” says Martinez. freeze killed the citrus trees. “While providing a service to Martinez recalls childhood In 1965 Hurricane Betsy our nation, CWPPRA helps trips with her family to wiped us out again. In 1969 the local culture preserve camp on a barrier island. Triumph disappeared – Hur- their sense of place. Its proj- “We had a mental map of the ricane Camille obliterated ects give the next generation way through the wetlands. the landscape, leaving noth- a chance to continue.” We knew that environment ing except telephone poles, like the back of our hand. road signs, and a few trees. Confronting a disaster Now you need a compass to The houses were gone. Many of a different order get out to the islands. The people didn’t return, but While hurricane winds, marsh has vanished—it’s my father’s business served storm surges and open water now. We’ve lost marine industries and my temperature swings happen so many landmarks the only parents chose to stay.” quickly and episodically, thing left to guide us back the disaster of coastal land to the marina is a large Martinez’s family has start- loss is continuous and flagpole the parish erected ed over three times. “The gradual. “Anyone from this thirty years ago.” first time it’s a lot of shock

12 January 2014 Number 48 o help people connect with CWPPRA coastal resto- to preserve the historical significance of this area for the Tration efforts, the exhibit “I Remember …” CWPPRA country,” says Martinez. “My hope is to give outsiders Personal Reflections: Environmental Portraits and Oral a glimpse of our culture that they don’t normally have Histories of Louisiana’s Coastal Wetlands Stakeholders access to, and to give local Louisianans another reason to combines recorded stories from wetland stewards with validate and celebrate our culture.” art. Photographer Lane Lefort and painter Marian Brister Martinez contributed art work that captures the people View the paintings and photographs in this exhibit, check of Louisiana and the unique habitat, history and culture its traveling schedule and listen to recorded interviews at that CWPPRA projects protect. “We have a responsibility http://lacoast.gov/new/GetInvolved/OralHistory.aspx

Martinez emphasizes the came back on their own in “with different groups com- importance of coastal resto- just a matter of months.” peting for the same natural ration. “Rebuilding barrier resources. That makes it islands prevents a likely “If restoration tough, because some resto- domino effect of land loss on is successful…” ration efforts may affect peo- the mainland,” says Marti- Like other long-term resi- ple’s ability to pursue tradi- nez. “Restoration projects dents of coastal Louisiana, tional livelihoods. Change is protect the Mississippi the Croatian American com- difficult, but the question is, River and the international munity watches and worries how do we adapt so that we trade, so vital to the nation’s as the land where their don’t lose all of our coastal economy, that uses the port forefathers settled and flour- environment? We have to of New Orleans. Wetlands ished disappears forever. “If find the way that works protect the city from storm the Gulf takes the land, it best for everybody, or there surges, and everything re- takes the oyster industry as won’t be anything left. If we lated to the seafood industry well,” Oustalet says. “If res- want to pass along what we that feeds so much of Amer- toration is successful, maybe have to our children and our ica depends on our healthy that won’t happen.” children’s children, we have wetlands.” to treat it and respect it as a As an oysterman out on the treasure in all the ways that Because of her childhood water frequently over nearly we use it.” memories of swimming and five decades, Cvitanovich camping at Scofield Island, sees proposed diversions “Marsh loss has changed the CWPPRA projects rebuilding only as a partial fix at best. game for everyone,” Mar- barrier islands and shore- “It’s a question of scale,” tinez says. “CWPPRA has lines, such as Pass Chaland Cvitanovich says. “The river been a great experiment in doesn’t carry the land-build- to Grand Bayou Pass Barrier coastal restoration – and we ing sediment it used to; silt Shoreline Restoration (BA- get to participate. CWPPRA is trapped behind upriver 35) Barataria Barrier Island is a bottom-up process that dams or diverted down the Complex Project: Pelican from the very beginning Atchafalaya. We need some invites public involvement to Island and Pass La Mer to freshwater influx, but it’s propose and discuss projects. Chaland Pass Restoration more important to build Every CWPPRA meeting is (BA-38) mean the most to up barrier islands to retain open to public participation. her. Marsh created by the the interior estuary system. And we see the results. We West Bay Sediment Delivery Without that protection, salt see what is working. No one project (MR-03) also excites water will continue to infil- knows what the end would her, as does the Bayou Du- trate and kill the marshes.” be if we did nothing.” WM pont (BA-39) project. “The progress there is amazing,” “Louisiana’s coast is a work- Martinez says. “The plants ing coast,” says Leopold,

WaterMarks 13 Wat er Marks Interview with Don Davis

Don Davis is professor emeritus and director of oral histories, Louisiana Sea Grant program, and author of Washed Away? The Invisible Peoples of Louisiana’s Wetlands. The book traces the history, culture and economic influences of the many diverse ethnicities who settled in coastal Louisiana. Davis refers to these people as marsh dwellers.

WaterMarks: In your book you People realize efforts to restore choose between rebuilding and detail the history and charac- the coast are being made, but relocating. For most, it’s not a ter of the peoples who settled they see all these impediments complicated decision – you go in Louisiana’s coastal marshes. – benefit-to-cost ratio studies, back to where you are comfort- What’s the attitude of pres- discussions, terminology, new able, to where you can make a ent-day marsh dwellers toward legal issues. They want to know, living. They are rational people coastal restoration? when do we move forward? The making rational decisions. They longer we wait, the more diffi- know they are vulnerable, but Davis: The people of coast- cult their situation becomes. they are resilient. To my mind al Louisiana are living in an their resiliency makes them ab- emergency situation. Envi- WaterMarks: How are marsh solutely unique in 21st century ronmental change is literally dwellers dealing with this ongo- America. They may not win the stealing their land and de- ing emergency? ongoing battle against nature, stroying their livelihoods. They Davis: Coastal people are not but they won’t give up. want wetlands built as fast as strangers to disaster. Through- possible. In general they are WaterMarks: What’s in their out the decades floods and saying, “Our back yards are dis- future? hurricanes have wiped out appearing. When are we going their homes, forcing them to Davis: If the land washes to move dirt?” away, marsh dwellers will have to build floating communities, or relocate. They are not naïve; they may come to the reality that, eventually, they might have to move. But they want to do it on their own terms, when they are ready – not as a result of a mandated retreat. They want to make this pivotal decision for themselves. There are other environments in which people are at risk, but no one is telling them to move. No one says to Los Angeles residents after an earthquake, “You

Lane Lefort have to get out,” or to Oakland Along with the very land upon which Louisiana’s rich history was enacted, evidence residents after a fire, “Leave, go of the peoples who lived in the coastal region is succumbing to engulfing waters. Es- find some other place to live.” tablished in 1905 during a yellow fever epidemic, the Leeville Cemetery has suffered But people not even living in decades of damaging hurricanes. Now sinking land and rising sea levels increase the Louisiana are telling coastal threats to its survival.

14 January 2014 Number 48 dwellers, who have built their homes and buried their ancestors and still make their living in the marsh, that they should move. Restoration policies are just simply wrong if they are made by people who don’t live in the marsh and don’t understand the human element in the wetland ecosystem. WaterMarks: Why do you think inhabitants of the wetlands have such a small voice in restoration planning? Davis: Historically, the marsh was perceived as worthless — a Readily available in the coastal environment, palmetto was used to roof this early 20th wasteland. It was isolated, a century Native American home. For centuries, marsh dwellers have harvested materi- place into which someone could als native to the wetlands to construct buildings able to withstand Louisiana’s climate. disappear and no one would go Traditionally resourceful and adaptable to changing conditions, coastal residents looking for him. Hence, to the today face the challenge of developing innovative solutions for living in a vanishing landscape. outside world, marsh dwellers were largely invisible. Photo provided by Dr. Don Davis of LA Sea Grant. Original from the Smithsonian Insti- tution, Dr. John R Swanton Collection The marsh dwellers understood the economic value of the marsh, and they understood Hurricanes in 2005, 2008 and Marsh dwellers may have they had to be good stewards 2012 refocused attention on the solutions that don’t fit precon- of the landscape. If they dug a issue of vulnerability. A number ceived ideas about restoring the canal to gain access to fishing of non-governmental and other coast, but that doesn’t mean or hunting grounds, they built a organizations began conducting they are wrong – it means that dam to prevent saltwater intru- conferences and workshops on decision-makers may have to sion. They were very aware of natural hazards, on building rethink the ways we go about the fragility of their resources. codes and disaster prepared- restoration. They used the wetlands but ness. This is a beginning, but is Each community has its own didn’t convert them into some- it enough? When will families set of objectives, but there thing of commercial value. who have lived in this region for more than seven genera- are some commonalities: each There is a tendency to envision tions be asked to take an active requires that solutions to land coastal restoration as a scien- role in finding affordable and loss be affordable and have the tific and engineering problem, workable solutions? capacity to proceed quickly. And not as a social one. Scientists brutal honesty must be the glue WaterMarks: What is it that understand a lot of techni- binding all approaches. marsh dwellers have to offer cal things about the wetland professionals working on coastal Marsh dwellers are living with environment, but not about the restoration? environmental changes not of people who live in it. Nobody’s their own making – subsidence, asking the marsh dwellers — Davis: These people are en- sea-level rise, the channeliza- the real experts — about their gaged in making a living in this tion of the Mississippi River own back yard. In my opinion, environment and they know it and the accelerated erosion academic decisions made by better than anyone else. Poli- of the wetlands. The people people who don’t know the cy-makers need to realize the affected by these processes are landscape at the ground level locals have invaluable knowl- not the problem. They are part will never work. edge that can’t be ignored. of the solution. WM

WaterMarks 15 WaterMarks Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration News January 2014 Number 48

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on Davis includes these Dancestries of coastal Louisianans in his book Washed Away? The Invisible Peoples of Louisiana’s Wetlands.