Atchafalaya Is

The Atchafalaya Basin is:

Beyond ownership;
A place where a great river lives;
Where most of our crawfish used to come from;
Where commercial fishermen make a living;
A place of memories for a lot of people;
A home for ghost stories;
A place of great living complexity;
A controlled spillway;
A changing entity;
A smell in Spring;
A scalped wilderness regrowing its trees;
An escape for pleasure fishermen;
A revenue-bringer for sports shops;
A home for alligators;
A migratory terminal for grosbecs;
A place where once you could make a living picking moss;
A magical place for children;
A place where the Corps of Engineers has a huge debt to pay;
The future home of the Mississippi, like it or not;
A place where preservation is impossible but conservation isn’t;
A place that could die of inattention;
Where many have drowned;
Where many have been born;
A place that once welcomed the village of Bayou Chene;
A caged giant;
A vast residence of the Great Mother;
A place cold in winter and hot in summer;
A place where I live;
An unbroken path to Canada and the Gulf of Mexico;
A worthy adversary;
An idea;
A source of inspiration;
A place for old people to teach young people;
A different thing to each person who is touched by it.

AJD
Spring, 2002