**STUDY TITLE**: Ecological Characterization of the Mississippi Delta
Plain Region.

**REPORT TITLE**: Mississippi Deltaic Plain Region Ecological
Characterization: A Socioeconomic Study. Vol. 1, Synthesis Papers; Vol.
2, Map Narratives.

**CONTRACT NUMBER(S)**: BLM: MU8-28; MMS: 14-12-0001-29085.

**SPONSORING OCS REGION**: Gulf of Mexico.

**APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S)**: Central Gulf of Mexico.

**FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING**: 1978; 1979; 1980; 1981.

**COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT**: March 1980.

**COST(S)**: FY 1978: \$377,750; FY 1979: \$300,000; FY 1980: \$207,500;
FY 1981: \$7,000.

**CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST**: \$892,250.

**PROJECT MANAGER(S)**: C. French, J. Johnston.

**AFFILIATION**: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

**ADDRESS**: 1010 Gause Boulevard, Slidell, Louisiana 70458.

**PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR(S)\***: D. Davis, R. Detro.

**KEY WORDS**: Central Gulf; Mississippi River; Louisiana; Mississippi;
baseline; characterization; socioeconomics; synthesis; literature
review; maps; narratives; demographics; transportation; commercial
fishing; tourism; recreation; agriculture; pipeline; bibliography;
exploratory drilling; development; Tuscaloosa Trend.

**BACKGROUND**: Within the complex Mississippi Deltaic Plain Region
(MDPR), there has been rapid economic growth and development during the
past half century. Much of this growth has been associated with
hydrocarbon development both onshore and, more recently, offshore. As
the MDPR has developed, there has been increasing concern over potential
for serious environmental impact. In a Memorandum of Understanding, the
Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed
that in the course of the Ecological Characterization Study for the
MDPR, socioeconomic programs should receive special attention because of
extensive oil and gas activities and their impacts on the area.

**OBJECTIVES**: (1) To develop and synthesize a broad information base
that represents the MDPR in terms of oil and gas, social demographic
characteristics, land use, transportation, commercial fishing and
trapping, recreation and tourism, and agricultural production
activities.

**DESCRIPTION**: The study includes three products: seven synthesis
papers (Volume 1); map narratives (Volume 2); and a detailed map atlas
(Volume 3). The seven synthesis or status papers on socioeconomic
conditions in the MDPR include overviews on oil and gas activities,
social demographic characteristics, land use, transportation, commercial
fishing and trapping, recreation and tourism, and agricultural
production. The map atlas depicts socioeconomic variables across the
entire study area at a scale of 1:125,000. Thirteen separate base maps
cover the region. The companion volume contains narratives for the five
topic overlays contained in the atlas: oil and gas, pipelines,
transportation, pollution sources, and
conservation/preservation/recreation. In addition, a comprehensive data
appendix and an extensive resource bibliography for the MDPR study area
were developed.

**SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS**: Without question, development of the
hydrocarbon industry in the MDPR has had significant socioeconomic
impacts. The direct impacts are important but the secondary and tertiary
impacts that have occurred throughout the region may be more important.
Development of transportation networks provided the sophisticated access
needed for diversified urban/commercial/industrial development of an
area. Increases in incomes of residents helped to provide stimulus for
more services and goods to be produced and supplied. Immigration to the
area helped to provide needed skills that have diffused throughout the
MDPR into all sectors of the economy. While the oil and gas development
had a strong influence on the general development of the MDPR, other
development stimuli have helped to continue and accelerate regional
economic and population growth.

**STUDY RESULTS**: From the earliest efforts, development of Gulf coast
hydrocarbon reserves has been dependent on continuous improvements in
technology to overcome environmental constraints. Beginning with wells
drilled onshore on stable ground, the oil and gas industry moved slowly
seaward as economical and reliable methods were developed to deal with
the marshes, swamps, and open Gulf waters off the Louisiana and
Mississippi coasts. One technological change whose implications will
warrant future scrutiny is the implementation of directional drilling
techniques. Offshore drilling activities have utilized directional
drilling for several years to minimize multiple platform fabrication
costs while developing deep water oil and gas fields. A single platform
can be designed with drilling equipment that extends in all directions
from a common center. Onshore drilling activities, which have declined
substantially in recent years, could increase in the near future,
especially if market conditions make development of the Tuscaloosa Trend
more financially attractive. Onshore directional drilling is relatively
expensive when compared to vertical drilling, because of the added
distance that must be drilled to reach the same level below ground.
Despite its greater cost, directional drilling can be less disruptive
than vertical drilling activities, because hydrocarbon reserves can be
extracted from beneath the surface of ecologically sensitive areas with
relatively little ecological disturbance. The merits and disadvantages
of directional drilling should be examined in development of policies
and guidelines for hydrocarbon resource development in the MDPR. In
addition to pure historical aspects of oil and gas development in the
MDPR and descriptions of current conditions, one of the more significant
findings of this analysis has been that three Mississippi counties have
had little onshore and offshore impact from hydrocarbon development,
when compared to 14 parishes in Louisiana, and are likely to experience
little activity in the future.

Analysis of social and demographic trends in the MDPR during the past 20
years indicates that while hydrocarbon industry development has had a
profound impact on area social and economic characteristics, these
impacts are more properly viewed as the first in a long series of growth
and development episodes sustained by various forces. Because of
existing infrastructure, attractive living conditions, available energy
resources, accessibility to domestic and foreign markets, and regional
growth patterns, the MDPR can be expected to prosper well into the
future. Ship building and repair, grain storage, and other industries,
along with oil and gas field service centers, typify the deltaic region.
Many of the industrial developments are related to an inexpensive and
available supply of fossil fuels, and access to deep water shipping.

Land use patterns within the MDPR are changing as urban development
spreads northward of Lake Pontchartrain. Transportation and land use in
the MDPR are even more closely linked than in other parts of the
country. With the exception of fossil fuel energy, transportation may be
the most important factor affecting future growth and land use
decisions. Industry relies on inexpensive water transport wherever
possible; thus, the Mississippi River, the ship channel to New Orleans,
the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and oil service canals are of critical
importance. Surface land transport is also environmentally controlled as
the Deltaic Plain poses severe restrictions on railroad, expressway, and
local highway construction. Rights-of-way frequently follow former
Mississippi River natural levees or old shorelines. Urban, commercial,
industrial, and agricultural land use have followed transportation
patterns as ingress in wetlands was created.

Biological productivity in the MDPR is phenomenal. Each year fishermen
catch 45 million kilograms of estuarine-dependent fish and shellfish,
primarily menhaden, oysters, and shrimp. Oysters, shrimp, and blue crab
are abundant in the delta. Scale fish and industrial fish, as well as
muskrat and nutria, constitute other significant renewable resources.
Both commercial fishing and trapping are traditional activities with
long, colorful histories associated with French Cajuns and other swamp
dwellers. Today, these industries continue in many areas as folk
industries, but modern technology and commercial operations account for
a disproportionate quantity of catch. Fluctuating market price for fish
and furs, as well as employment opportunities in the oil fields and
elsewhere, render these industries most plastic.

The MDPR is divided into three general agricultural areas. First,
parishes on the coast are characterized by large salt marsh areas where
there is very little agriculture. Second, the area located just north of
coastal marshes forms a band extending from the western end of Lake
Pontchartrain to the western study area boundary. About 40% of this area
is used for farming. The third area is located north of Lake
Pontchartrain and continues eastward to the eastern study area boundary.
About 50% of this land is used for agriculture, including forest
products. Agricultural activity in the coastal zone is characterized by
a few major crops, sugar cane, soybeans, and rice. Increasing economic
pressures are being exerted on agricultural lands in the MDPR.
Encroaching urban development and declining service and processing
networks are making agriculture unprofitable in many areas.

**STUDY PRODUCT(S)**: Larson, D. K., D. Davis, R. Detro, P. Dumond, E.
Liebow, R. Motschall, D. Sorensen, and W. Guidroz. 1980. Mississippi
Deltaic Plain Region Ecological Characterization: A Socioeconomic Study.
Vol. 1, Synthesis Papers. A final report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land
Management Gulf of Mexico OCS Office, New Orleans, LA. NTIS
No. PB80‑198468. FWS/OBS-79/05. Contract No. 14‑12-0001-29085. 368 pp.

Larson, D. K., D. Davis, R. Detro, P. Dumond, E. Liebow, R. Motschall,
D. Sorensen, and W. Guidroz. 1980. Mississippi Deltaic Plain Region
Ecological Characterization: A Socioeconomic Study. Vol. 2, Map
Narratives. A final report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management Gulf of
Mexico OCS Office, New Orleans, LA. NTIS No. PB80‑219579. FWS/OBS-79/06.
Contract No. 14-12-0001-29085. 112 pp.

**\*P.I.\'s affiliation may be different than that listed for Project
Manager(s).**