Louisian State University, Ohio State University join forces to

New Orleans CityBusiness, Jan 4, 2008

Louisiana State University and Ohio State University are not only battling for the Bowl Championship Series national title.

Since 2003, the universities have fought to reverse wetlands loss.

"This is a multibillion-dollar problem that affects our entire nation," LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe said. "While we battle on the football field, we collaborate in the research field to tackle the issue of coastal wetlands loss."

Louisiana's wetlands are being lost at the rate of about one football field every 38 minutes.

The universities joined forces to form an ongoing research partnership to curb the loss of marsh.

The universities' goal is to rebuild the vanishing coastal wetland ecosystem that makes up 30 percent of the nation's total coastal marsh.

Researchers also aim to reduce the flow of nitrogen and other chemicals that pour into the Mississippi River each spring from America's heartland. This causes an overabundance of nutrients that rob the water of oxygen, creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico - more than 975 square miles of low-oxygen water that limits the sustainable fisheries of the region.

"Louisiana has both the largest amount of wetland loss and the largest dead zone in the country," said Robert Twilley, LSU associate vice chancellor of research and economic development. "We're working hard to rebuild our wetlands and reduce nutrients to the Gulf of Mexico, but we can't do it alone."

While LSU scientists focus on Louisiana, addressing the issues of wetland loss and the growing dead zone, OHU researchers are developing wetlands upstream so that nutrient loads in the Mississippi River that would increase the size of the dead zone will be dramatically reduced by the time they reach the delta region.

"John Day, professor emeritus at LSU, and Bill Mitsch at the Ohio State University have really come a long way with this partnership," Twilley said. "It's not something that's going to happen overnight, but if we're going to make any progress, it's got to be a collaborative effort throughout the Mississippi River basin. The basin is over 40 percent of the United States land mass. This partnership is critical in getting the message out from Minnesota to Mississippi. That's what makes this partnership so unique - its potential for real impact."