Rebuilding Wetlands: Do Hurricanes Help (Kathleen Wren )

Summary: In the article “Rebuilding Wetlands: Do Hurricanes Help?” found at www.msnbc.msn.com . It has brought up a very important even though the Hurricanes Rita and Katrina have been a curse with destroying the wetlands and really just about the whole city of NOLA they may just be able to turn themselves back around regarding the rebuilding of the wetlands with the help of another hurricane. The article stated that all the silt and debris that the hurricanes have caused to wash up on shore may be able to supply all the inorganic matter needed to have a health wetland. This would be pretty important seeing that the wetlands of Louisiana make up one of the largest wetland systems in the U.S. alone. The heads over at the National Academy of Engineering claim that the region provided just about twenty-five percent of our nation’s oil and gas and a billion kgs of seafood each year. Hurricanes are great at distributing sediment the only thing is you can’t control where the sediment with land. The hurricane deposits sediment in a lollipop shape. With more sediment and time the wetlands should be restored the army corporation have projected that it will take hundreds of thousands of dollars for the wetlands to be restored. Personal Commentary: This appears to have been a very well explained article but the author could have elaborated on when the wet lands are expected to be restored and what happens if they are possibly never restored. As I stated earlier this issue is important because the wetlands of Louisiana make up one of the largest wetland systems in the U.S. alone. As far as this article teaching me something new I learned that I’ve always heard that these wetlands were important now I have a better understanding of why also I have read on what we can do in the meantime to save Louisiana’s wetlands while we still have them like, filling in the canals dredged by gas and companies, creating smaller river diversions then what we have now along with restoring the natural drainage channels on an acre-by-acre basis. This information supports the idea that wetlands are a vital source to many people and things like food wise, job wise and in the sense of nature. Although I am left with the question of how long this will take to rebuild the wetlands no one can just start a hurricane to distribute the inorganic materials. What’s Next: Well obviously no one could just create a hurricane so I’m guessing we just wait. If the hurricanes don’t distribute the sediment then the wetlands will just have to evolve over time. I know many people will continue to be out of work (fishing, oil drilling, ect.) and out of some good seafood. A study needed to answer the remaining questions like if the hurricanes move good parts of one wetland to another.

·         Wren, Kathleen (2011, May 10). General format. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14927077/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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