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Louisiana is shrinking. Some tribes are fighting to protect what's left of their communities
Tribes use oyster reefs that cut land loss by 50% and fortify homes to withstand storms while battling limited federal aid and rising sea levels.
- POINTE-AU-CHIEN, La., the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe is building oyster-shell reefs and fortifying homes, while coordinating with Lowlander Center to address erosion and flooding in Bayou Pointe au Chien.
- Levees and canals have severed sediment flow and accelerated coastal retreat, while researchers warn Louisiana could lose up to 3,000 square miles over the next 50 years.
- The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana says a 2014 program recycled over 16 million pounds of oyster shells, protecting about 1.5 miles of shoreline and a 400-foot reef cut erosion by 50%.
- After Hurricane Ida in 2021, tribes rebuilt or repaired 13 homes, plan five new ones and are raising funds to fortify about a dozen remaining houses, while Kristina Peterson stresses whole-community safety upgrades.
- Facing recognition and funding hurdles, state-recognized tribes cite ancestral ties to protect sacred sites and hope to avoid the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation’s fate after Isle de Jean Charles lost 98% of its land.
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28 Articles
Associated Press News+27 Reposted by 27 other sources
Louisiana is shrinking. Some tribes are fighting to protect what's left of their communities
Louisiana is shrinking. Since the early 1930s, the state has lost about 2,000 square miles of land for a variety of reasons that range from groundwater pumping to building levees along the Misssisippi River that have stopped the natural dumping of sediment.
·United States
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Total News Sources28
Leaning Left12Leaning Right2Center8Last UpdatedBias Distribution55% Left
Bias Distribution
- 55% of the sources lean Left
55% Left
L 55%
C 36%
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