Alabama's Mobile-Tensaw Delta is a lush, vibrant and surprisingly intact more than 400-square-mile (1,036-square-kilometer) expanse of cypress swamps, oxbow lakes, marshland, hardwood stands and rivers. It's a place of astonishing plant and animal diversity and a critical conduit between the rest of Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico.
MOBILE-TENSAW DELTA, Ala. — Thousands of American lotuses carpet the water’s surface, faces turned toward the morning sun. Bright yellow warblers flit among cypress trees along a creek bank. A paddlefish jumps as a motorboat rounds a bend.
So residents, scientists and environmentalists are working to protect the entire Alabama ecosystem considered crucial to the survival of species and the health of the delta and, ultimately, the Gulf of Mexico. What’s here astonishes biologists: American elms, decimated by disease in other parts of the country, thrive in the delta and its watershed, reflecting “this ancient, ancient heritage” of genetically hardy trees, says Finch, the forest researcher. It’s central to the nation’s oak diversity, with about 40 species, compared to about a dozen in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
There still is much to discover, says Ben Raines, who has worked to spread awareness of the state’s ecological importance, first as environmental reporter at Mobile’s daily newspaper — where he rediscovered a crayfish thought to be extinct — and now as a filmmaker, author and boat captain offering nature tours. He dubbed Alabama “America’s Amazon” in a book and documentary.
But other threats are unresolved. A canal built to connect the Tennessee and Tombigbee rivers in northern Alabama could allow invasive Asian carp to reach the Mobile River system and the delta, potentially devastating native fish. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says carp have been found and removed downstream of the canal, with biologists relying on early detection while other control measures are considered.
“Our great asset is understanding the biodiversity of this area,” Finch says. “It’s about more than ‘Let’s save this place because it’s pretty.’”Jimbo Meador has spent a lifetime here, hunting, fishing, shrimping, crabbing, frogging and trapping. For years, he offered boat tours for people who want to learn about the delta’s ecological riches.
O’Neil, the former state geological survey official, says much of the land proposed for a national park was state-owned and already protected but available for hunting and fishing.
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