The role of floodplain geomorphology in policy and management decisions along the lower Mississippi river in Louisiana

Abstract

Control of policy and management decisions on the Mississippi River floodplain in Louisiana are shared among the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, state agencies, parish levee boards, and individual landowners. Several examples illustrate how geomorphic expertise can help resolve conflicting issues between different stakeholders while having input into project design and management. These issues include (1) navigable waterways and the ordinary high water mark, (2) the formation of river bars and islands in regards to ownership, (3) the formation of floodplain lakes in regards to determining ownership, and (4) river diversions constructed to control downstream flooding and distribute sediment into adjacent marshlands. The science of fluvial geomorphology concerns the processes controlling river and floodplain development and should be consulted for decisions involving stakeholder disputes and environmental management.