Spanish Lake Decimation Today, for reasons discussed in detail below, this valuable wetland struggles as a shallow stagnant lake, with little or no timber regeneration, declining water fowl, declining fisheries, declining wildlife, and declining water quality. The SLCG seeks to restore this rapidly degrading ecosystem back into the once highly productive and diverse bottomland hardwood and cypress habitat that existed before unnatural pressures where brought to bear on the area.
Water Control
The Spanish Lake Subbasin has been in a dramatic and visible decline for decades. The destruction of this unique ecosystem can be traced to the implementation of a flood control project in the 1950s, which continues today. Efforts at flood control have effectively converted the Spanish Lake basin from a healthy seasonally inundated green tree reservoir into a stagnant permanently inundated shallow lake. Today, the holding of water at unnatural levels in the Lake has resulted in the disappearance of the original forest habitat, wildlife, and the aquatic life that once flourished there. The Lake’s water is shown to have very low oxygen levels, with alarming build-up of unwanted exotics plants, chemicals, heavy metals, and fecal coliform.
Oil and Gas Operations
Of equal importance, additional disruption of the natural hydrology in the area has been compounded by oil and gas exploration since the 1940s, the building of roads, oil and salt splits, old production equipment, flow lines and wells that have not been abandoned properly. All of these events have all hindered the natural recovery of the area. Additional Pressures The Spanish Lake Basin is located in the center of one of the largest residential booms in Louisiana’s history, following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The need to address the restoration of the Spanish Lake Basin becomes all the more imperative when considered in light of the new residential developments in and around the surrounding area. The need for additional water retention and overflow areas is paramount to regions eco friendly expansion. Join us in this struggle to save our one our most treasured wetlands.Â
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