WATER: one of the region’s most important resources

Water. Locals along the South Louisiana coast, couldn’t escape it if they tried. Bayous, lakes and the Gulf of Mexico physically surround the region. Water is so common that residents, without even paying attention, cross bodies of water every day and use bayous and rivers to describe where they’re headed, instead of using cardinal directions. Water is everywhere.

“We are sitting on top of a mountain of natural resources, almost all of which are related to the water,” says Michael Massimi, invasive species coordinator for the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program.