Aggie Richards: A Lament for Honey Island

A LAMENT FOR HONEY ISLAND

by Aggie Richards

It started as a fluff piece. A feel-good informative story for our evening news program, Journal, on WYES-TV co-anchored and produced by Andrea Roane and Charles Zewe. This was 40 years ago. There was so much to see and learn for most of us about the Honey Island Swamp that as a contributor to Journal, I thought it would make an interesting segment. The feral pigs, eagles, water moccasins, alligators, wood duck, turtles, turkey, crayfish, egrets, raccoons, pileated woodpeckers, to name a few of the fascinating creatures that live there. This lush habitat for wildlife is also a source of timber, recreation such as hunting, boating, fishing, and bird-watching, and a natural water purification system, as well as a nursery for many species of fish.

The flood plain swamp forest lies between the East and West Pearl Rivers, the former being the boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi, roughly 20 miles of water that flows into Lake Borgne, which is 7 miles wide and encompasses 70,000 acres. Having existed under 6 flags, the Honey Island Swamp has a colorful history. Rumors of a Boggy Creek monster exist today and there is evidence that panthers, bears, and wolves were once plentiful there. Pearls were discovered in enough abundance to name the rivers, honey was everywhere, and buried gold for Napoleon in exile and a sunken pirate ship loaded with booty are all part of the area's mystique.

One of the area's most knowledgeable advocates was a federal wildlife agent, Dave, who was glad to be a resource and guide to take me with my cameraman, Paul, to places, but he didn’t want to be interviewed. In retrospect he probably was a whistleblower. Federal funding for the Corps of Engineers comes from Congress and Congress is very sensitive to the needs of big donors. The Corps of Engineers “policed” business activity in these precious wetlands. Dave wanted us to see illegal and unchecked activity. And so the story began to lose its fluff.

One interview included a trapper who had moved his wife and six children into the swamp to find more creatures to trap, but creatures like beaver had disappeared because salt water incursion, from the many canals dug to speed up getting workers out to oil and gas production facilities, had killed cypress and fresh water vegetation that sustained them. The I-10 East from Slidell at ground level had created a dam cutting off the natural ebb and flow of the Pearl Rivers (unlike

the I -10 raised over the Atchafalaya) and created dangerous flood areas, some where new subdivisions had been unwisely built.

Another interview was with a botanist from Tulane who boldly said he could show us a 1200 year old cypress tree that survived the almost complete clear- cutting of the valuable timber harvested a century ago. So, with much logistical difficulty, we took him out to the tree which rose majestically above the swamp maple, tupelo, water oak, and sweet gum in the swamp. But as I interviewed him on camera, his story changed and the magnificent bald cypress suddenly became a mere 600 years old. He meekly admitted that he didn’t want to face the scrutiny of his peers and I resisted the urge to leave him with the tree.

With salt water incursion and over-harvested cypress trees, it was becoming evident this was no longer a fluff story. The Honey Island was being slowly destroyed, not so much by lack of laws but by lack of knowledgeable and honest enforcers, like Dave, and support for them from national, state, and local officials, as well as the general public.

Dave suggested we look at some illegal dredging along the West Pearl, a designated Wild and Scenic River protected by federal laws. So we ventured out again on a bitter cold day. We had a borrowed helicopter and a sympathetic pilot who had the back doors removed for better camera angles (obviously before drone videography). We rendezvoused with Dave, who met us in a small flat boat with an old-looking motor. Paul got the aerial shots hanging out of the open space where the doors had been, but I wanted to get closer, so we landed and joined Dave in the flat boat.

We motored close to ancient Indian mounds being destroyed by the wave- wash of crew boats and other water vehicles speeding by, routinely breaking more

protective laws. Then we putt-putted close to an illegally dredged area where Paul shot some damning video of the harvesting of mud from a “protected” Wild and Scenic River to be supplied to offshore oil rigs. As we came about to head back to the helicopter, a large crew boat, 4 decks high, came roaring out of nowhere and headed straight for us. We could see the captain looking at us and laughing. They passed us within a few feet.

The helicopter was within sight but it seemed very far away. Paul, Dave, and I were doing our best to steady our little flat boat. The crew boat passed us and then went into reverse, once again coming right at us. We were being tossed about and splashed but Dave managed to out-maneuver the bullies. We scrambled to shore wet and very cold to board the waiting helicopter.

With proof now, it was time to talk to the Corp of Engineers.

Two representatives came from Mobile, Alabama, to our studio to answer our questions. They first told me I better have a good lawyer. Then they proceeded to bury me with information. After two hours grilling them, they finally admitted they were not stopping this law-breaking mud-dredging company. We all know that every time a barge full of mud taken from the Honey Island Swamp is hauled out offshore, more salt water moves in, destroying more of this fragile ecological system.

Months later, my contacts at the Corps called to tell me that our investigation had led to the B.O. Company admitting fault and being fined.

I was elated.

Not for long. The fine was $2500.00. To the B.O. Company, that was chump change and they were back at it the next day.

Being nominated for the Press Club's Investigating Reporting Award and being written up in the Times-Picayune in an exaggerated version of my so-called bravery was nice, but it didn’t soften the blow. We may have won a small moral victory but who will win the war to save The Honey Island Swamp?