Trends in Wildlife Use of Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area, Louisiana with Emphasis on Dredged Material Islands
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PRESENTATION
Michael Carloss(1), Cassidy Lejeune(1), and Ed Creef(2) mcarloss@wlf.louisiana.gov
(1)Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, New Iberia, Louisiana
(2)US Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana
Abstract
The Atchafalaya Delta is the only actively building delta in the Gulf of Mexico. The growth of the delta is the result of sediments being deposited by the Atchafalaya River channeling sediments from the Mississippi River. Sediments from the navigation channel are frequently removed by maintenance dredging conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) and placed to create and restore dredged material islands. The material from these dredging operations has been used by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) working cooperatively with the Corps and other state and federal agencies to create a series of dredge material islands on the Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area (ADWMA).
Subsidence, erosion, storms, and other factors are responsible for rapidly changing the configuration of the Louisiana coastline. Coastal wildlife habitat such as waterbird nesting and foraging sites, waterfowl wintering habitat and mottled duck nesting habitat are lost on an annual basis from these destructive forces. Many species of wildlife have taken advantage of the increasing wetlands on ADWMA from both naturally accreted and dredged material habitat. Dredged material islands have become important nesting sites for several species of colonial seabirds as well as mottled ducks. The high wintering waterfowl use of the area has made ADWMA the most utilized public hunting area in the state. White‐tailed deer have populated many of the dredge islands in such numbers that an archery deer season has been implemented. LDWF has documented some of these trends in wildlife use of the area as well as public utilization of the resources.
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