TNC buys 3.7K Atchafalaya acres

The Nature Conservancy has bought 3,700 acres of land in Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin, an expansion that increases its holdings by 70 percent. The land appraised for $6.8M, but Dow Chemical sold it for $1M. “I think they're very interested in sponsoring conservation,” Karen Gautreaux, The Nature Conservancy's Louisiana director, told NOLA.com. Dow operates five plants and employs/contracts 6,000-plus workers in the state. The Nature Conservancy is an environmental non-profit focused on land and water, making the Atchafalaya Basin an attraction. It is home to 300+ species of wildlife and 100+ species of fish and shellfish. It now owns 9,000 acres there. The Nature Conservancy has spent the last five years researching the science of the basin but has not completed its restoration plan. But it is building an Atchafalaya Conservation Center on floating barges to house conservation fellows with hopes to dig out some of the basin to improve water flow and reduce dead zones. “If you get the water flowing through there right and you get the oxygen conditions good, everything else falls into place,” Joseph Baustian, wetlands ecologist for TNC. “We’re building the science," Gautreaux said. "We’re going to monitor the system and hopefully demonstrate an option to improve the health of the system.” (Source: NOLA.com 04/10/22) The Nature Conservancy buys 3,700 acres from Dow in Atchafalaya Basin | Environment | nola.com