Rebecca Anna Lee Dorsey Williams
August 18, 2009
Jeanette A Bourgeois
August 20, 2009
Fish don’t hook on like they used to? Waterfowl seem to be more elusive than before?
Wildlife advocacy groups blame climate change and coastal erosion for the problem.
The National Wildlife Federation and Louisiana Wildlife Federation will host a discussion Tuesday on the direct effects of climate change on southeast Louisiana’s hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation.
The event takes Tuesday place at the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum, 7910 Park Ave., Houma, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Attendees will view a PowerPoint presentation followed by group discussions.
Jambalaya and soft drinks will be served and door prizes will be given away. The cost of the program is $12.
“We’re going to show examples of the sort of effects that have happened in other areas of the country relating to hunting and fishing that folks here would go through,” said Chris Pulaski, NWF’s Louisiana Coastal Organizer for the Barataria/Terrebonne area. “We want people to tell their stories, give any insights that they have.
“Another portion of the evening will focus on advocacy – what people can do, how to get in contact with other concerned citizens, what you can do as an individual to help out,” he added.
NWF and other groups contend that seawater intrusion and rising sea levels are changing the nesting habitats of migratory birds and waterfowl, affecting their populations.
The results change where fish lay their eggs and the type of fish that are in particular areas, according to Pulaski.
“There’s a lot going on, more than most people would realize,” he said. “But I think people will recognize a lot of this when they relate it to their experiences and what they’ve seen change in the last 40 years.”
A Houma native, Pulaski was hired by the NWF in June to locally promote non-structural (everything but levees) risk management techniques and coastal restoration projects.
The 1990 Vandebilt Catholic High graduate and 1996 LSU graduate in landscape architecture said such techniques include elevating homes, diverting sediment and fresh water, sediment pipeline delivery, dredging, land use planning and evacuating for hurricanes.
“The National Wildlife Federation has teamed up with several other organizations, including the United Houma Nation, to promote non-structural risk management techniques,” Pulaski said. “These are intended to work in conjunction with levee projects – kind of a second line of defense where you have coastal restoration on the outside of the levee. It’s all one big system in my mind.”
For more information on Tuesday’s event, Pulaski can be reached at (985) 360-6257 or pulaskic@nwf.org or visit www.nwf.org/louisiana.
Climate change and coastal erosion have severely impacted south Louisiana’s hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation. Wildlife groups are teaming up to educate locals on the problem at Tuesday’s forum. * Photo courtesy of NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION
