The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that Louisiana’s coastal parishes have lost 5,197 square kilometers (2,006 square miles) of land from 1932 to 2016. Louisiana is losing coastal wetlands at an average rate of a football field every hour. As the land subsides, sea level rises, and less sediment reaches the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River each year, these changes threaten the livelihoods and cultures of coastal communities — not to mention some of the country's most valuable energy and fisheries industries.
![Students from Westlake High School start bitter panicum sprouts at Aquaponics Lab. Full grown plants will be used in the planned spring planting. (Image credit: Nick Limeris) Students from Westlake High School start bitter panicum sprouts at Aquaponics Lab. Full grown plants will be used in the planned spring planting.](/sites/default/files/styles/landscape_width_1275/public/legacy/image/2020/Feb/panicumsprouts.jpeg?itok=davxi_Qk)
Students from Westlake High School start bitter panicum sprouts at Aquaponics Lab. Full grown plants will be used in the planned spring planting. (Image credit: Nick Limeris)