2019 - Louisiana
Jen and I are now in New Orleans. We did an evening bike ride on a levee alongside the Mississippi River. The water level is unusually high, no doubt due to flooding upstream. Luckily, no apparent danger here.
We spent a morning kayaking in Manchac Swamp not too far from New Orleans. Not being very experienced in a kayak, photography was a challenge. But I did capture a few landscapes that reflect the absolute peace and tranquility of the moment. There are a few legacy baldcypress trees that were alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase, but the baldcypress trees are otherwise "second growth" after rapacious logging in the last century. Sadly, oil industry canals are contributing to increased salinity and subsidence, and destroying the ability of these swamps to absorb the energy of hurricanes. Another effect is that baldcypress seedlings are not surviving to populate a third growth. When the existing trees die, a "ghost swamp" will be left, making New Orleans more vulnerable than ever to catastrophic flooding.
Read MoreWe spent a morning kayaking in Manchac Swamp not too far from New Orleans. Not being very experienced in a kayak, photography was a challenge. But I did capture a few landscapes that reflect the absolute peace and tranquility of the moment. There are a few legacy baldcypress trees that were alive at the time of the Louisiana Purchase, but the baldcypress trees are otherwise "second growth" after rapacious logging in the last century. Sadly, oil industry canals are contributing to increased salinity and subsidence, and destroying the ability of these swamps to absorb the energy of hurricanes. Another effect is that baldcypress seedlings are not surviving to populate a third growth. When the existing trees die, a "ghost swamp" will be left, making New Orleans more vulnerable than ever to catastrophic flooding.
