Atchafalaya Basinkeeper

ATCHAFALAYA BASINKEEPER INC is a nonprofit grassroots organization dedicated to protecting and restoring the Atchafalaya Basin in South Central Louisiana. We work for the people who use the Basin and for countless future generations who have the right to a world as good as or better than what we inherited. Two major threats to the long-term health of the Basin are unsustainable cypress logging and sedimentation which is filling in our deep swamps year after year. We do anything within the law to protect the Basin, including ensuring that our environmental laws are enforced. We help preserve the Basin through monitoring and enforcement, education and outreach, and building grassroots support of our program. With regular monitoring flights, Basinkeeper is the only group in the state monitoring for illegal cypress-tupelo logging. Our monitoring efforts are largely responsible for stopping illegal cypress logging in coastal Louisiana. The Atchafalaya Basin is the more than 1.4-million-acre basin of the Atchafalaya River, containing North America’s most productive and biodiverse forested wetlands and includes acres of forest and acres of marshland. The Basin houses the largest remaining contiguous forested wetlands in the Mississippi River floodplain. These forests provide critical habitat to over 300 bird species, over 40 species of mammals, more than 40 reptilian species, over 20 amphibian species and are important wintering grounds for migratory birds. Providing habitat to about 100 species of fish and shellfish, the Atchafalaya Basin is culturally and commercially important as well.