Give it an inch.....

  Back a few years ago, I noticed that the nutrias were munching away on the roots of our marsh.  The shoreline was receding at a rapid pace due to these critters and this was not making me overly happy.  I tried to be nice and allow the overgrown rats to live in peace but it seems that the word got out so now I am overrun with the critters.  It does indeed make me happy to know that our alligator population is thriving as well, though, since those are about the only predators that an adult nutria has. 

  As the marsh grass disappears, other weaker rooted plants take over the area.  I first saw the saltmarsh fleabane several years ago as a single plant.  Now within a couple of years, the plant has multiplied by a hundredfold.  The Bayou is changing from one of healthy marsh to mudflats with an assorted soft-rooted plants.  This is not good as none of these will do much to stop erosion.  Coupled with the root-gnawing nutrias, the saltmarsh fleabane is out to do damage to the ecosystem here. Give either an inch and it will wind up taking over the entire Bayou! There is not much that I can do to stop this progressive curse on the marsh.  

  Saltmarsh Fleabane is better known as Pluchea Odorata.  It is touted to be a bug repellent, hence, the name fleabane.  I suppose that I could experiment with using the plant as a natural insect deterrent.   If it works, maybe I should harvest it and market the stuff!  I also read where it is sometimes used as an herbal tisane.  Do I dare snip a few leaves and give it a try?  Tisanes would be a good market as well!  At the rate it is taking over the marsh, I could have a never-ending moneymaker! Hmmm? Ponder....ponder....

Bye Bye Marsh

  It makes me sad to see how my marsh is disappearing.  Little by little, bit by bit (ok, quite a few feet each year) the shoreline is eroded by waves.  A lot of this is caused by those dear, sweet little nutrias that infest the marsh.  The little ones are so adorably ugly until it is not funny.  (They are ugly simply because of their actions otherwise adorably cute.)  The nutria rats eat the marsh roots and kill off masses of the healthy marsh clumps.  With the marsh dying out, Fleabane has taken over huge sections of the area.  The nutria rats do not seem to find this plant palatable so it is reseeding quickly.  Fleabane is not as root sturdy as marsh grass so this opens the area up to mass erosion and thus a huge loss of land.  My property is shrinking as we speak!  

  I was on the pier yesterday when I noticed the waves beating against the shoreline.  Huge clumps of marsh were being toppled and washed out into the middle of the Bay.  Just this year alone, we have seen a loss of perhaps ten to fifteen feet of marshline.  Couple the voracious appetites of the nutria rats with the wash from high winds and an enormous problem emerges for folks like us that live right on the water. The wide line of marsh creates a natural barrier from storms.  Hurricane waters are buffered a bit before they reach inland.  With the possible threat of a hurricane out on the horizon, thoughts of protection never leave the brain.  My buffer zone has been greatly diminished since the last strong storm hit.  

  I am not sure just what can be done short of eliminating the nutria rats and trying to cultivate marsh.  I have always believed in the mantra of  "Live and let live" but the nutria rats are not keeping up their end of the deal!  They literally are going to eat themselves out of house and home!  Once the marsh is gone, the rodents will have to move to a new stomping ground.  By then, however, it will be too late for the Bayou. It is no wonder that some states offer a bounty for the rascals!  What to do, what to do?

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.