Ch 11: Gulf Coastal Plains and Mississippi Valley

"In America today you can murder land for private profit. You can leave the corpse for all to see, and nobody calls the cops."
                                                           Paul Brooks

Both Santa Catalina Island and the Gulf Coast area specifically Louisiana suffered from wetland loss. Chris Mayda states in his book A Regional Geography of the United States and Canada that Louisiana still considered "to have more coastal wetlands than other Gulf Coast States" but the wetlands is continuously degraded and converted to suit human agriculture and economic needs. The Gulf Coast wetlands is considered the natural home of multiple species including migratory birds and ducks, and the loss of those wetlands have a direct negative effects on the numbers of wildlife dependent on the marshes and swamps. 

Similarly, the loss of wetlands in Catalina Island also have negative impact on the wildlife on the island. To illustrate, Santa Catalina Island shrew is outnumbered by other species mainly because its natural habitat, wetlands, is degraded due to overgrazing by other non-native species like the feral cat.

Santa Catalina Island Shrew
Photo: Frank Starkey