This piece from the Times-Picayune is a reminder for us metro Jacksonians -- the Pearl ain't ours alone:Passing under a veil of Spanish moss to enter the narrow channels of Maple Slough in the West Pearl River, Jeff Rogers' boat glided past cypress and gum trees keeping silent sentry.
As a bullfrog croaked a lonesome serenade, a great blue heron stood erect on a piece of driftwood. A water-level check boded forewarning.
Dipping a tree branch into the swamp, Rogers, owner of the Cajun Encounters tour company, guessed that it was about 2 1/2 feet deep. Come summer, the bog will be about a foot lower, making it difficult to navigate his 20-foot boat through the slough, the main attraction of the tours that Rogers and three other Slidell companies offer visitors and nature enthusiasts.
"Beyond what it goes down now, I would not be able to navigate down here at all," Rogers said.
A proposed flood-control project in Jackson, Miss., could make that hypothesis a reality. Environmental experts fear the project could send water pollution downstream and disrupt water levels, which could have disastrous effects on Louisiana's swamp tour industry.
PEARL RIVER IN PERIL- NOLA.com
