100+ Years of Land Change for Coastal Louisiana

U.S. Geological Survey, National Wetlands Research Center

Mining and Earth Science

Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

By John Barras, Steve Hartley, James B. Johnston, and William R. Jones

Contact: William R. Jones; william_jones@usgs.gov
Software: ArcView Image Analysis and Windows NT
Printer: HP Designjet 3500cp
Data Source(s): Britsch, L.D., and Dunbar, J.B., 1993, “Land-loss Rates Louisiana Coastal Plain,” Journal of Coastal Research v.9, p. 324–338; Cowardin et al, 1979, “Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States” -79/31; and 2000 Thematic Mapper data

Coastal Louisiana loses an average of 34 square miles of land, primarily marsh, per year. From 1932 to 2050, coastal Louisiana has lost 1,900 square miles of land, roughly an area the size of the state of Delaware. If nothing is done to stop this land loss, Louisiana is expected to lose another 700 square miles of land, or about equal to the size of the greater Washington, D.C.–Baltimore area, during the next 50 years. Louisiana accounted for an estimated 90 percent of the coastal marsh loss in the lower 48 states during the 1990s.

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