Exploring wetlands in our new series, "Down the Drain"

This is an exciting day! After months of work, the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is launching our new reporting project, an eight-part series exploring the wonders of and threats to a unique ecosystem: wetlands. From our press release:

Wetlands are places where land and water meet. Throughout the Mississippi River watershed, wetlands store floodwater, improve drinking water quality and serve as homes for millions of birds and other animals. But this special ecosystem is facing growing threats from development, pollution, climate change, and recent court rulings that leave them vulnerable to destruction.

"Down the Drain: A watershed moment for America's greatest wetlands," was a huge undertaking for our team. It involved reporters and editors in 12 states, and it transports audiences from the vanishing coast of Louisiana to productive hunting lakes in Minnesota. It introduces diverse voices and life experiences, including Tennessee cattle farmers, wetland scientists, and homeowners in historically flood-prone areas of Mississippi.

This reporting arrives at an important political moment. Last year, the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA significantly limited the agency’s power to regulate wetlands, resulting in more than half the nation’s wetlands potentially losing federal protections. A March 2024 report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted an approximate 50% increase in wetland loss from 2009 to 2019 compared to the previous decade. Further, President Trump’s EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has announced the government will roll back federal protections on wetlands.

You can read all eight pieces right now, linked below.

A new era dawns for America’s disappearing wetlands as feds retreat from oversight by Madeline Heim, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

For sport or food, love of birds is saving grace for America’s wetlands by Greg Stanley, Minnesota Star Tribune

Delta duck hunting offers conservation solutions, but the ducks are disappearing by Lucas Dufalla, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, and Phillip Powell, Arkansas Times

Wetlands protections built an industry for mitigation banking. Rollbacks could erode it. by Cassandra Stephenson, Tennessee Lookout, and Delaney Dryfoos, The Lens NOLA

“A living laboratory:” How an accidental delta taught Louisiana scientists how to rebuild wetlands by Elise Plunk, Louisiana Illuminator, and Eva Tesfaye, WWNO

Framing wetlands as a flooding solution won bipartisan support in Wisconsin. Could it work elsewhere? by Madeline Heim and Caitlin Looby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Mississippi flood relief project could harm 90,000 acres of valuable wetlands. Is it worth the tradeoff? by Illan Ireland, Mississippi Free Press

One Iowa landowner fights to farm a designated wetland. Others could face consequences downstream by Jared Strong, The Gazette; Jess Savage, WNIJ and Illan Ireland, Mississippi Free Press

Beyond the reporting, the series also features a state-by-state local guide to visiting public wetlands by Dean Klinkenberg, author of “The Wild Mississippi: A State-by-State Guide to the River’s Natural Wonders.” And an innovative, interactive data visualization blends historical imagery, cultural context and cartography, inviting readers to explore a brief history of our relationship with wetlands throughout the Mississippi River Basin.

We'll have more to share about the stories in this project over the coming days. For now, we appreciate your support of the Desk. We are the only journalism outlet with this specific scope and capacity to cover stories like this, and we're so glad to be able to share this with you.

As always, thanks for reading. More next week from across the Basin.

Sincerely,

Michael Crowe
Operations Manager,
Ag & Water Desk