| Atchafalaya Basin Symposium |
On January 10-11, 2008, The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana and the LSU AgCenter School of Renewable Natural Resources hosted a two day symposium “Ecosystem Functions and the Dynamic Atchafalaya River from the Old River Control Structure to the Continental Shelf.” The two day symposium offered presentations from 32 experts to over 150 attendees highlighting the various functions and values of the Atchafalaya Basin.
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| photo courtesy of USACE |
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| The Atchafalaya River stretches only 135 miles from its origin to its mouth, yet only four rivers discharge more water to North America’s coast. Water and sediment from the Atchafalaya River affect geomorphological, biological, and ecological processes across thousands of square miles of southcentral Louisiana in the floodway, delta, coastal marshes, and coastal waters. Along its length, the river influences millions of acres of wetland forests and coastal marshes that yield tremendous benefits in the form of oil and gas resources, timber, commercial and recreational fishing, hunting and non-consumptive wildlife use, and regional navigation. The Atchafalaya River Basin is managed partly for navigation but primarily as a floodway that receives water from the Mississippi and Red Rivers, and is undergoing rapid geomorphic changes as it develops as a distributary. |
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| photo courtesy of USACE |
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| Understanding this complex system is difficult because it is being changed by the Atchafalaya River itself and by people, intentionally and otherwise. The purposes of this meeting are to review what is known about the river and its associated environments, to report on recent and ongoing research, and to identify information gaps that complicate decision making by land managers, water managers, and policy makers.
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The meeting was divided into seven sessions that consisted of four or five presentations. Sessions were designed to foster a holistic understanding of the Atchafalaya River by avoiding focusing on traditional geographic or disciplinary subdivisions. Instead, each session intended to provide examples of the effects of the Atchafalaya River on geologic and hydrologic processes as well as on flora and fauna from the Old River Control Structure to the Gulf of Mexico.
• Atchafalaya Basin Symposium Program
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Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana
National Audubon Society
School of Renewable Natural Resources, LSU Agricultural Center
Society for Ecological Restoration
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Mark Ford, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana
Richard Keim, School of Renewable Natural Resources
Bill Kelso, School of Renewable Natural Resources, LSU Agricultural Center
Andy Nyman, School of Renewable Natural Resources, LSU Agricultural Center
Natalie Snider, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana
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| Abstracts and Presentations |
A Historical View of Events Surrounding the Controversy of the Old River Control Structure
(Hale)
Sedimentation Patterns Within the Central Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana
(Hupp, Demas,Kroes, Day, and Doyle)
Hydrology of Forested Wetlands in the Atchafalaya River Basin
(Day, and Doyle)
Trends in Wildlife Use of Atchafalaya Delta Wildlife Management Area, Louisiana With Emphasis on Dredged Material Islands
(Carloss, Lejeune, and Creef)
Observation of Saltwater Intrusion into the Atchafalaya Bay
(Li, Roberts, Weeks, Stone, and Feng)
Classification of Water Areas within the Atchafalaya Basin Floodway System Using Thematic Mapper 5 Imagery
(Allen, Couvillion, and Constant)
Population Abundance, Movements And Size Characteristics Of Pallid Sturgeon From The Old River Control Complex, Louisiana
(Reed, Dean, and Hartfield)
Plant Response to Microhabitat Changes Following Hurricane Disturbance. I: The Vegetative Cover
(Keeland, Gorham, Weisbrich, Wells, and Mopper)
Plant Response to Microhabitat Changes Following Hurricane Disturbance. II: The Soil Seed Bank
(Gorham, Keeland, Weisbrich, Wells, and Mopper)
Comparisons of Harmful Algae from the Barataria and Atchafalaya Estuaries and Nearshore Waters
(Rabalais, Morrison, Mendenhall, Ren, Atilla, and Dortch)
The Influence Of The Atchafalaya River On Wetland And Estuarine Functioning: Management Implications
(Day, Lane, Twilley, Justic, Shaw, and Cowan)
Flooding and Hurricane Effects on Tree Growth in the Atchafalaya Basin
(Doyle and Day)
Development of a Management Plan for Wild-Caught Crawfish in Louisiana
(Huner and Konikoff)
Fish Research In The Atchafalaya And Wax Lake Deltas: A Review
(Peterson,Thompson, Milan, and Shaw)
Hypoxia Offshore the Atchafalaya and Mississippi Rivers
(Rabalais and Turner)
Wildlife Management In The Atchafalaya Basin
(Davidson)
A Study of Hydrodynamics, Salinity, and Waves in the Acadiana Bay System
(Miller)
Marsh Loss Mechanisms where River Inflow is High and Subsidence is Slow: How Estuarine Marshes Can Erode even in The Virtual Absence of Wave and Tidal Energy
(Nyman and McGinnis)
Hydrologic Influences on Carbon, Nutrient and Sediment Transport in the Atchafalaya
(Xu)
Rethinking the Atchafalaya Basin as a Reservoir of Ecological Diversity during Trying Times
(Kemp)
Dendrochronological Analysis of Wetland Forest Productivity and Hydrology
(Amos, Keim, and Doyle)
Bird Survey Of The Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana
(Fontenot and Huner)
Isotopic Signature of Nitrogen along the Atchafalaya River
(BryantMason, Xu, and Altabet)
Oyster Production in the Atchafalaya/Vermilion Estuarine Complex: an Overview
(Banks and Cook)
The GIWW as a Distributary of River Water to Coastal Louisiana
(Swarzenski)
Effects of Spatial Scale on Assessment of Dissolved Oxygen Dynamics in the Atchafalaya River Basin, Louisiana
(Kaller, Kelso, and Rutherford)
How Does Flooding in the Atchafalaya River Basin Shape Young-Of-The-Year Fishes?
(Halloran, Kaller, Kelso, and Rutherford)
Identifying Controls on Nutrient Removal in the Atchafalaya River Basin, Louisiana
(Scaroni, Nyman, Lindau, DeLaune, and Keim)
Using Oral History in Environmental Conflict Resolution: Finding Common Ground—Lessons from the Atchafalaya
(Condrey and Wood)
The Use of Science in Natural Resource Planning and Management in the Atchafalaya Basin
(Watson, van Maasakkers, Faulkner, and Karl)
Invasive Aquatic Species in the Atchafalaya Basin
(Thomas, and Walley)
Wax Lake Delta: Depositional Architecture, Delta Evolution, and Impacts Beyond Atchafalaya Bay
(Roberts, Walker, and D’Sa)
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