Welcome to Atchafalaya
Posted: June 5, 2007 Filed under: They call it science 17 Comments »
I had read a lot about wetlands, heard a lot about it too but it compared to nothing until I got to see one by myself. After being in one, I felt my text book knowledge was huge injustice to real functions of a wetlands, not that I didn’t knew but I simply couldn’t have visualized. Last Friday one of my colleagues invited me to join them for a field trip to Atchafalaya Basin; they were planning to retrieve data from their water level recorder. I had a GIS project going for the same location, so I felt having exposure to ground condition will further enhance my analysis capabilities.
Atchafalaya Basin is located in central Louisiana, and is a combination of wetlands and river delta, where Atchafalaya River drains to the Gulf of Mexico. Historically Mississippi River followed the present course of Atchafalya River to the Gulf of Mexico. After the Great Flood of 1927 Congress has mandated that 30% of Mississippi River and Red River (tributary of Mississippi) has to flow through Atchafalaya (using River Control System).
We boarded a 17 foot whaler and setoff in Atchafalya River (oh ya, we did put on chest waders). I had never seen such diversity of birds in my life, I could see gators basking in sun, snakes moving in the water, and mature bottomland hardwood forest (Atchafalaya is the largest bottomland hardwood forest swamp in USA).
When the water in the main channel gets higher, the water flows into back swamps and back lake, and when the main channel recesses the water flows back to the main channel (If you click my picture to enlarge, you can see flood marks on the trees). In the process the sediments are retained, and one could visually see the difference in the color of main channel (turbid) Vs the sediment free water coming out from back swamps and back lake (dark, due to tanning by leaves). Besides wildlife diversity and sediment retention, wetlands have other importances too: carbon sequestration and denitrification, one of the major causes of Hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico.
Earlier I used to dream of clear waters, but now I won’t mind water covered with Duckweed complimented by wildlife diversity and serene environment. I am unaware of wetlands in Nepal, but judging by my experience in Atchafalya, we can open doors towards new tourism venture if we can provide boats and accommodation facilities to Ornithologist and bird lovers.
This reminded me of the movie, Anaconda.. I would love you see you wrestle an Anoconda or a crocodile hehe !!
Why can’t I see the pic of the snake when I click on it ??
NakedNepali Bro,
I’m still single, let me get married first then I’ll have self desire to wrestle a Croc
I have reduced the resolution of the pictures, I guess you should be able to see it now.
Happy Tuesday
Prajwol, looks like you had a real fun time there .. when I saw u standing in the water , I was thinking of the snakes below it.. Everything is good,( and I would love to see a similar wet land, may be the wetlands of Nepal) except the snakes there. Usually the snakes which live in water are not poisonous though… I had seen somewhat similar places in my grand ma’s place.. with big rivers, bigger trees, innumerous birds.. and of course NO snakes.
-bs-
.Keshuvko said:..?
You have knack for photography as well, Prajwol.
May be the place is so beautiful it got captured so nicely in the frame.
Vahsek’s Ramblings
Beena,
Yes, having the thoughts of snake undeneath was scary, but I was more afraid of tripping over in dead tree roots and falling face first in the muggy water
. There are snakes like Marsh Snake which are poisonous and dwell around water. By the way, where is your grand ma’s place?
Keshav Bro,
it’s the latter one, even a novice could have taken good pictures there
. Good luck on your hibernation !!
Its very rude to call your future wife ‘Croc’ !!haha
I am sorry NakedNepali Bro, in future I might have to delete your above comment, I don’t want my future wife seeing it
Prajwol:
My understanding about wetland, in broader terms, is; we can call any freshwater system, ‘wetland’. Therefore, all of our rivers, lakes and even ponds are categorised as wetlands. However, I admit that, I have limited knowledge about wetlands. I often get confused due to the names; Wetland and its Nepali translation – सिमसार. But there is much interest on the wetlands listed in RAMSAR convention. Bishazari tal (located in Chitwan or Nawalparasi??) is much studied wetland in Nepal, I guess. Besides, Koshi Tappu is best example of wetland in Nepal. I believe there are few such wetlands, listed by RAMSAR convention, in Nepal. I was surprised when I read even paddy fields (during flooding time) can be termed as wetlands.
One of the important reasons of protecting wetland is due to its rich biodiversity. Therefore, your judgment on attracting tourists is valid. I am not sure about international tourism, but Koshi tappu is quite known for bird watching, even Tau Daha (situated south of Kathmandu valley) attracts few bird lovers (domestic mostly) during migration season. I even sometimes go and just sit there to watch birds..
May be this comment is getting longer… and I should stop here… Congratulations on your fabulous trip to Atchafalaya (It is quite difficult to pronounce it, though
) !!
And on that after marriage croc wrestling thing, I would rather opt this before marriage. अर्काको जिन्दगी त्यसै बिगार्नु त भएन नि, कि कसो?
Mr. LOL
Prof. LOL,
As far as the definition that I remember from KU, wetlands are defined as an area that remains flooded for considerable period of year. However based on the soil type, vegetation, and drainage, wetlands might be further classified. I thought there were even more listing of Nepal in Ramsar, I should check that up.
I have met people here that are crazy enough to travel to South & Central America to see birds. If we have some unique species, then we might even lure some int’l bird watchers and researchers. However, lets first start with domestic tourism. I have seen Koshi Tappu, I bet it would be fun to get a motor boat and navigate it all day.
And lastly, wrestling Croc is just an open option
(one should always have an open option), अब real life मा आफ्नि मायालाई छोडेर कोहि त्यसो गर्ला र ? 
Prajwol and Prof. Lol,
In the jungle of Barandabhar. The very one that you have to be
Bishajari taal is in Chitwan.
through ..ummm… Bharatpur to Tandi ko bich ko jungle ……. Every year I used to go to the
wetland. Being an amateur birdwatcher, I have found the place very good for migrating birds.
And there is another wetland in Dang. I forgot the name of it. Very siginificant for birds and fish.
“Taudaha” reminded me an old story. In my grade XII I had done a project on Bird Conservation in Taudaha.
Guys, if you figured me out…. just visit my hi5. Usual “name” dot hi5 dot com.
Regards
Hey “Me”,
thanks for the update info about the wetlands. Well it seems that there are hundreds of possible combination if you use “name” dot hi5 dot com. So I guess that’s pretty tiresome process
, however I do have your IP address 
Then you could not figure me out!
I did.. or may be wordpress did..
There are other places in Kathmandu very famous for birdwathcing. For example, Phulchoki, Shiavpuri, Gokarna, Sundarijal, Nagdaha etc etc
Thanks RNS for update.
It’s interesting to see patterns of the name used by the bloggers
….may be I sould have started anonymous too 
Prof. LOL,
I know “me” too, I was just adding up some spices
……..yes he was supposed to be in hibernation, but we don’t want him out of action do we?
my grandmas place in kerala.. u might hav heard of Thekkady. the place i mentioned is somewher near that
o man, its a creepy feelin’ standing in there like you are doing. Didnt u feel snakes and crabs crawling around u?