Klaus J. Meyer-Arendt

Louisiana wetland loss: a regional water management approach to the problem

Loss of Louisianas coastal wetlands has reached catastrophic proportions. The loss rate is approximately 150 km2/yr (100 acres/day) and is increasing exponentially. Total wetland loss since the turn of the century has been almost 0.5 million ha (1.1 million acres) and represents an area larger than Rhode Island. The physical cause of the problem lies in mans attempts to control the Mississippi Rivers flooding, while enhancing navigation and extracting minerals. Levee systems and control structures confine sediments that once nourished the wetlands to the river channel. As a consequence, the ultimate sediment deposition is in deep Gulf waters off the Louisiana coast. The lack of sediment input to the interdistributary wetlands results in an accretion deficit. Natural and human-induced subsidence exceeds accretion so that the wetlands sink below sea level and convert to water.The solution is to provide a thin veneer of sediment (approximately 0.6 cm/yr; an average of 1450 g m−2 yr−1) over the coastal marshes and swamps and thus prevent the submergence of vegetation. The sediment source is the Mississippi River system. Calculations show that 9.2% of the rivers annual suspended sediment load would be required to sustain the deltaic plain wetlands. It should be distributed during the six high-water months (December–June) through as disaggregated a network as possible. The problem is one of distribution: how can the maximum acres of marsh be nourished with the least cost? At present, the river is managed through federal policy for the benefit of navigation and flood control. A new policy structure, recognizing the new role for the river-sediment distribution, is recommended.

Recreational Business Districts in Gulf of Mexico Seaside Resorts

Within the body of literature addressing tourism imprints upon the cultural landscape, the recreational business district (RBD) has been identified as a key component of a resort area, and the seaside has been no exception. Comprised of tourist-oriented businesses and historically focused upon the beach, incipient RBDs evolved at seaside termini of railroads, highways, and footpaths. Construction of bathhouses, casinos or beach hotels at these sites was followed by nearby clustering of secondary and tertiary recreational enterprises. Lateral expansion of coastal roads often led to RBD elongation, but RBD core areas usually remained as the central focus of tourist activity. Variations in RBD development have resulted from shifts in beach access corridors and/or ‘redevelopment’ of older resort landscapes. Along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, the RBD persists as an artifact of the touristic landscape.

Seaside Resorts in the Dominican Republic: A Typology

Abstract Since the early 1970s, the growing attraction of beaches has led to a proliferation of seaside resorts along the Atlantic and Caribbean shores of the Dominican Republic. The distribution of beach resorts reflects a combination of quality and quantity of natural resources, proximity of urban centers and/or airports, and intensity of development efforts exerted by private entrepreneurs and/or government agencies. Both domestic and international tourism are responsible for beachfront urbanization in the Dominican Republic. At least five discrete types of coastal resorts may be identified: 1) the urban balneario, 2) the domestic destination resort, 3) the “integrated” domestic/international destination resort, 4) the “interactive” enclave resort, and 5) the “self-contained” enclave resort. Each of these resort types is characterized by a particular tourist clientele and a distinctive urban morphologic pattern. Although overlap between types may occasionally blur the distinctions, this typology is pre...

Geomorphic Impacts of Resort Evolution along the Gulf of Mexico Coast: Applicability of Resort Cycle Models

Conceptual models of resort evolution have been used to document pat-terns of tourist flows, social and economic impacts, and changes in resort morphology. Tourism/environment relationships are often perceived as being linear, with greater levels of tourism development correlated to greater negative environmental impacts. Documentation of Gulf of Mexico coastal resort evolution by application of a resort cycle model reveals a more complex human-environment relationship. Minimal geomorphic disturbance characterises initial tourism ‘exploration’, although a subsequent ‘rapid development’ stage is usually accompanied by the greatest negative impacts upon the dunes and shore zone. During more advanced stages of the resort cycle, accurate perceptions of environmental degradation lead to increasing efforts at environmental preservation, e.g. shoreline armouring, beach nourishment, dune stabilisation, etc. However, because of prevailing adverse physical parameters as well as previous human- induced environmental degradation, these efforts are usually costly and rarely successful. Resort cycle analyses are useful in understanding both the evolution of Gulf of Mexico resorts and also the corollary geomorphic and related environmental impacts. Such analyses for forecasting evolutionary trends and geomorphic impacts are greatest at sites of ‘spontaneous’ unregulated tourism development, such as in the lesser developed countries.

Patterns and impacts of coastal recreation along the Gulf coast of Mexico

Much of Mexico’s shoreline has been transformed into a recreational cultural landscape. Segments of the Pacific coast and (more recently) the Caribbean coast have undergone such extensive cultural and physical modification by tourism that a recent regional study of Mexico broke them out as a separate ‘nation’ of ‘Club Mex’ (Casagrande, 1987). Included in Club Mex are the Pacific enclaves of Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, Manzanillo, Ixtapa, Acapulco, and Puerto Escondido and the Caribbean enclave of Cancun/Cozumel. Coastal tourism accounts for approximately 45% of total tourism in Mexico, which translates to about

North American Tourism and Cultural Geography

700 million in (1983) revenues (Merino, 1987), and the Club Mex enclaves are the primary destinations of most tourists, both international and national. Recognizing the touristic value of its shores, Mexico devoted 93 percent of its (1982) investment in tourism —

Land Loss in Mississippi River Deltaic Plain: ABSTRACT

370 million — to coastal infrastructural development. Major resort complexes were developed in the 1970s by the Mexican government at Ixtapa-Zihuantanejo on the Pacific coast (Reynoso y Valle and de Regt, 1979) and at Cancun on the Caribbean coast (Collins, 1979).

Land Loss in the Mississippi River Deltaic Plain

Research on tourism is evolving into an increasingly accepted field of scholarly endeavor as the impact of tourism upon the ever-shrinking world is becoming more and more apparent. Already one of the leading generators of revenue in the world today, tourism has been seen as the panacea for depressed economies in both developed and lesser developed countries. Over the last several decades, we have discovered that there is much about tourism that we do not understand. Social scientistsincluding anthropologists, sociologists, historians, psychologists, and geographers-have stepped up their research efforts into various aspects of tourism so that we not only better understand the nature of tourism but also that we have a better foundation for decision-making in tourism planning and development. Although the spectrum of research associated with tourism and its impact is quite broad, the cultural component is very significant. A particularly fertile field of inquiry has been the impact of tourism upon native cultures, and anthropologists and sociologists have been at the forefront of this research frontier. 1 Geographers, as members of an eclectic discipline, have been less focused in their research efforts, but culture is an integral aspect in at least four of the ten major research thrusts identified in the subfield of recreation/tourism/ sports geography.2 This special issue of the Journal of Cultural Geography on North American Tourism is offered to present examples of geographic research on tourism that incorporate culture as an integral component. In 1980, the very first issue of the Journal of Cultural Geography contained a review article and bibliography on tourism by journal editor Alvar Carlson. 5 Although the article documented growing concern with tourism by geographers, few articles on tourism have appeared in the journal during the subsequent decade. This special issue partly reflects efforts both to offset this paucity of contributions and to strengthen the links between tourism research and cultural geography. Although not all major research thrusts of cultural geography-including cultural ecology,

Shoreline erosion and wetland loss in Mississippi

Systematic measurements and comparisons of maps, black-and-white aerial photographs, and color infrared imagery taken at five periods within the interval from 1890 to 1978 have been used to document land loss and habitat change within the Mississippi River deltaic plain. The studies show that the long-term trend of net progradation, which persisted through most of the past 5,000 years, was reversed during the late 19th century, and that during the 20th century land loss rates have accelerated geometrically. Within the 11,500 mi2 (29,900 km2) study area, land loss rates have progressed from approximately 6.7 mi2/year in 1913 to a projected 39.4 mi2/year in 1980. The greatest loss has occurred in the wetlands, but barrier islands nd natural levee ridges are also disappearing at a very high rate. The data can be used not only to document past change, but also to project future conditions. The findings have great significance to fish and wildlife resources, flood-protection planning, and land ownership. Apparent causes of the high rates of land loss include the harnessing of the Mississippi River by levees and control structures which reduce tendencies toward natural diversion and funnel valuable sediments to deep, offshore waters. Additional factors include canal dredging and accelerated subsidence End_Page 1684------------------------------ related to mineral extraction, both of which are commonly associated with salt-water intrusion. The net effect is a rapidly accelerating man-induced transgression of a major coastal system. End_of_Article - Last_Page 1685------------