“Laissez les bons temps rouler” or as our non-Cajun brethren say, “Let the good times roll.” Those good times could be cut short as water is rolling onto Louisiana’s coast.

Over the past 80 years, 2,000 square miles of Louisiana’s coastal landscapes have disappeared. Now the Gulf of Mexico is at the back door of New Orleans. 

For over 7,000 years, Louisiana’s wetlands covered 6,000 square miles. Coastal Louisiana has reduced 75 percant in size since the 1930s. Many do not realize what is at risk, but the Gulf land that is quickly disappearing at a rate of a football field per hour is the nation’s housing to half of the oil refineries, 90 percent of its offshore energy production and 30 percent of its oil and gas supply. These vast marshes are also a port to 31 states and a home to about 2 million people.

Buras is located 60 miles south of New Orleans. It once supplied many surrounding restaurants with fresh seafood. It gave hunters and fishers fresh marshes to kill ducks and catch what seemed to be an endless amount of speckle trouts and flounders.

Ryan Lambert, president of Cajun Fishing Adventures from Buras, LA, had to travel through six miles of healthy marshes to get to the Gulf of Mexico 34 years ago, but now that is no longer the case. 

“Now, it’s all open water. You can stand on the dock and see the Gulf,” said Lambert. “Saltwater seeping into the wetlands is a slow, intimidating cancer.”

The changes are gradual, but noticeable. Effected citizens are left wondering what will happen to their camps, swamps, beachfronts and even their backyards as the water creeps onto the coast more and more each day. 

Basins near New Orleans are sinking an inch per 30 months. At this rate, Louisiana’s boot will disappear sooner than expected. Computer studies show that if this continues, Louisiana’s new Southern coastline will run straight east to west starting right below Baton Rouge. 

Another factor contributing to coastal erosion is global warming. Seas are rising worldwide, but none are as endangered as Southeast Louisiana. Research shows seas along the country’s coastline will rise anywhere from 1.5 feet to 4.5 feet by 2100. In “bayou cities” already below sea level, this is equal to at least four to five feet rise in water.

It is evident that the coast is suffering, but the state has a bigger problem at hand: is there a way to stop it? 

In 2012 the state created a 50 year-$50 billion Master Plan. This project includes building massive diversions to rivers that can reconnect it to the delta, pumping sediment near sinking areas, and building levees. According to computer projections, if projects are completed on schedule, then by 2060 more land can be built than what was annually lost. 

It seems too easy. Congress has not been cooperative while the state searches for the vast amount of $50 billion. For now, citizens can find simple ways to help, such as getting to know surrounding wetlands, contributing funds, services or supplies to a nonprofit organization, saving water and disposing of household products carefully.

“As wetlands are lost, the state will not only lose land and the many resources valuable to its economy, but a unique, rich culture born of many diverse nationalities, which flourished along the Mississippi River and the surrounding swamps, bayous and marshes and established a reputation for a unique cuisine and lifestyle dependent on the wetlands,” said Benny Rousselle, former Plaquemines Parish president during his speech at Parishes Against Coastal Erosion Meeting.

For more information on ways to help the state’s disappearing coastline, visit projects.propublica.org  and americaswetlandresources.com.

Editor's Note: A correction has been made to this article. In print, Benny Rousselle was listed as the Plaquemines Parish president. Rousselle is actually the former parish president.