THE MARSHES SOUTH OF NEW Orleans are dying, slowly sinking into the rising sea. But when Erik Johnson imagines their future, he sees a paradise for birds. Bald Eagles will feast on fish in Barataria Bay. Green-winged Teal and Mottled Ducks will forage in the shallows. With luck, Roseate Spoonbills might join in. “Where the freshwater and saltwater mixes is just a really productive system,” says Johnson, director of conservation science for Audubon Delta.
That wildlife haven is within reach, he and other conservation advocates say, if
