Watching the slow death of a marsh....

I am losing my marshland.  Little by little it is disappearing.  Erosion from the tides, wave action, boats and jetskis are all taking their toll on my Bayou.  If something does not change..and change soon..the Bayou will be gone.  The waves washing against the marshline is reeking havoc on the root systems and there is not much I can do about this.  Large chunks of marsh are being washed away.  I try to "pin" some back in place when I can reach them but most are whisked away on the tide.

Another big influence on the loss of wetlands is this thing called progress.  While no building has taken place specifically on the marshland, just a bit north of here, many, many houses have been built in the past five years or so.  While this is seemingly noneffective on the marsh, runoff from these subdivisions is channeled down my creek and into the Bayou.  This runoff of fresh rainwater includes the many chemicals that folks douse on their lawns and gardens.  Even something that would normally seem beneficial to plants..say fertilizers..does mass damage to the fragile ecosystem of the marsh.  But not only fertilizer is being poured into the creek..weedkillers, insecticides and even household cleansers are making their way down into the Bayou.  My little Bayou friends cannot endure the constant deluge of things that to which they are not accustomed.   If the critters are wiped out then the marsh itself will disappear.  It takes a fine balance to maintain this ecosystem..something that is not being done at this time.  I, personally, believe that this killing of the wetlands from runoff is far more damaging that the erosion caused by the waves.

I watched yesterday as another clump of marsh grass was uprooted and washed away.  I could not reach this clump so was not able to restore it to the rootbase.  It made me sad to see part of my Bayou ruined. Just this year alone, we have already lost nearly five feet of marshline.  At this rate, in a matter of a few years, my Bayou will be no more.  My critter friends will have long died out or moved on to other safer places..if there are such places.  The sad part...no one cares.  There is no stopping this monster called "Progress".  People do not understand that once the marshes are gone..nothing else will survive in the Bay.  Baby crabs, shrimp and many fishes use the marshes as a nursery and once the grass in not there, these, too, shall move.  Yep..it does make me sad.