Working Wetlands, We are all in this together.

[Gloria]

St Martinville throws a hell of a parade and party for Mardi Gras.

We did have some time to spend traveling through St Martins Parish Louisiana driving out to the rice paddies and cane suger fields. Awesome area for wildlife diversity.
This pdf discusses the sustainability of such agricultural practices.
What do you think?

http://www.env.go.jp/nature/satoyama/syuhourei/pdf/cwe_17.pdf

The term “working wetlands” in Louisiana refers to the fact that the state‟s wetlands (paddies)
serve multiple functions: they are used for the cultivation of rice and the harvesting of crayfish, and also provide habitats to waterfowl. In surveyed area of St. Martin Parish, for example, farmers allow crayfish cultivated in paddies to be fed on by waterfowl, thereby using the wetlands in a sustainable way and preserving biodiversity in the area.

The Louisiana State University Agriculture Center is appealing to the government to offer support for farms such as the one taken up here that utilize and conserve wildlife and natural resources such as crayfish, waterfowl, and water (levels and quality). The conservation of biodiversity in farming should also raise the level of biodiversity in areas surrounding wetland farms in Louisiana

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/wrp/

http://www.la.nrcs.usda.gov/programs...nds/index.html

Alexandria, July 13, 2010 – Farmers and ranchers in portions of Acadia, Calcasieu, Cameron, Iberia, Jefferson Davis, St. Landry, St. Martin, and St. Mary Parishes, as well as all of Lafayette and Vermilion Parishes will benefit from a recently funded initiative to improve the habitat for wetland dependant wildlife in Louisiana’s coastal wetlands.

[benj1]

It's encouraging to see a case study where there is not an 'either (food) or (wildlife)' stance. While the managed wetland will not have the diversity of a natural one, at least this shows that we can successfully share with wildlife and still have economic viability.

[Gloria]

There is a lot going on in Louisiana to save biodiversity,wetland quality and slow some of the agricultural runoff into the gulf from the entire mississippi river basin.
The University has some excellent informaion on what is being done.
The question asked about how important is habitat restoration a few days ago is applicable in this area of wetland restoration and contruction.

Using constructed wetlands to protect Louisiana water quality - 2010 | Louisiana Agriculture Magazine | Communications | LSU AgCenter

Nearly 8 million tons of nitrogen in commercial fertilizers are applied annually in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin, which makes up about 40 percent of the contiguous United States. The Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers drain the basin, carrying runoff containing nearly 3.5 billion pounds of nitrogen annually into the Gulf of Mexico.

Experts estimate Louisiana had more than 25,000 square miles of wetlands during the colonial period of the 1780s. Over the next 200 years, as the population of Louisiana grew, wetlands, regarded as having little value, were drained or filled at a rate of 58 square miles per year so they could be used for agriculture or urban development.
Constructed wetlands provide an effective and economical way of improving effluent water quality through biological and physical means and are being used worldwide to cleanse effluent from municipalities, rural communities and single dwellings, as well as agricultural and urban storm runoff. The layout of the LSU AgCenter Red River Research Station in northwest Louisiana is an ideal location to determine if a constructed wetland can improve the quality of runoff water before it enters an impaired Louisiana water body.

The constructed wetland system also was effective in reducing nutrient levels in runoff before release into the Flat River

Saving Louisiana?s Coastal Wetlands - 2007 | Louisiana Agriculture Magazine | Communications | LSU AgCenter

The challenge in trying to populate barren areas with these plants is that they are not good at producing seed – unlike agricultural crops. And coastal restoration requires massive quantities of seed – good quality, viable seed.