A sinking community turns to oyster shells – and a tax – for safety
Donald Dardar navigates his skiff boat through the bayou as dark rain clouds gather, ready to unleash across Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. His wife, Theresa, sits at the bow and points to an abandoned home. Two years ago, Hurricane Ida blew off its roof. Living here, where the Mississippi River flows into the Gulf of Mexico, residents find little easy protection from the elements.
The terrain of southeast Louisiana has been drastically altered by the combination of hurricanes, sea-level rise, and the construction of canals and levees during the past half-century. And yet, the sparsely populated area had been repeatedly overlooked by state and federal coastal restoration and protection projects.
As a result, the Dardars, members of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe whose ancestors lived here for thousands of years, have watched their homeland wash away at an alarming rate. Ms.
