Lower Mississippi RIVERKEEPER

The Spanish Lake Basin is an ancient backwater swamp of the Mississippi River. It is part of the 16-parish Lake Pontchartrain Basin that covers Southeast Louisiana.

The basin's nutrient-rich waters, lush vegetation and numerous species of trees and plants nurture wildlife, purify waters, check the destructive powers of floods and storms, and provide people with the opportunity to enjoy and learn from nature.

Four adjacent habitats, rising from the open water of bayous and lakes to swamps, bottomland-hardwood forests and distributary ridges, compose a rich, diverse and important ecosystem.

Located on the Mississippi River Flyway, the 17,000-acre Spanish Lake Basin is visited by many neo-tropical migrants including pelicans, ibis, cormorants and roseate spoonbills. The Basin is an important place for these birds to rest and fish during their migratory flights between Canada and Central/South America. As many as 300 species of birds visit and live in these bayous, swamps and forests. While egrets and herons lunge for fish, alligators sunbathe on fallen logs and red-shouldered hawks and bald eagles soar over the tops of moss-draped cypress trees.

The Spanish Lake Basin is a refuge for a diverse array of wildlife including many species of reptiles, amphibians, mammals and fish.

Centuries ago, the Spanish Lake Basin was noted by Iberville, Louisiana's first explorer, and the famed naturalist William Bartram for its beautiful trees and abundant wildlife. Today this is one of few remaining wetlands of it's kind in the Lower Mississippi River Valley.

The Mississippi River is now ranked on American Rivers’ list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers.

While continuously working with communities to assist in solving their particular water or air crisis, we also address the polluted state of the Mississippi River.The Mississippi River is now ranked on American Rivers’ list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers.  It drains 2,350 square miles in all or parts of 31 states, which contributes to its pollution problem.  The Mississippi River Basin is home to 1.5 million people, and over 350 industrial and municipal facilities are located adjacent to the River within the state of Louisiana.  Approximately 175 of these facilities discharge wastewater into the river under the authority of state/federal permits, and of these approximately 120 facilities are located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.  Noncompliance with wastewater discharge permits by a large number of facilities along the River is widespread and through our role as Lower Mississippi Riverkeeper LEAN is addressing the issue by monitoring permit applications, compliance orders, and penalty notices.  In addition to the industrial pollution when the Mississippi River flows into Louisiana it already contains a variety of chemicals including the herbicide Atrazine, which originates in stormwater runoff from agricultural fields in mid-western states and presents a potential health hazard.  This places a particular burden on the Communities from Ascension Parish to the mouth of the Mississippi River that use surface water as their only source of drinking water.

THE CURRENT THREAT

THE IMPACT

Though many areas that were logged in the early 1900s have regenerated, local scientists believe that many of Louisiana's coastal cypress forests would not grow back if they are now cut.

Read more about endangered cypress forests.