Upstream, Downstream

[Update: The Rankin Hinds Pearl River Flood & Drainage Control District will hold a public meeting on July 24 in Jackson, Mississippi. Details here, with a downstream meeting in the works.]

The Pearl River starts at the confluence of Nanih Waiya and Tallahaga creeks near Philadelphia, Mississippi. It flows to Jackson and then southwest, forming the boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi along the edges of Washington and St. Tammany Parishes.

Mississippi has Pearl River County and the cities of Pearlington and Pearl. In Louisiana, the community originally called Halloo (for the loggers who hailed each other along the river) was renamed Pearl River in 1888. The river itself is named for a glittering natural feature. In 1814, when Andrew Jackson was traveling from Mobile to the Battle of New Orleans, his topographical engineer, Major Howell Tatum, kept a detailed account of their journey and described the river thus:

Pearl River is commonly about 100 paces wide, but at this time 150 in consequence of the heavy rains which had recently fell. It derives its name from the numerous pearl shells that cover the bottom of this river, and give it handsome appearance in low water. The lands on each side, at the crossing, for about one mile from the river, are excellent bottom.

After crossing the Pearl, Jackson made camp for the night at the home of John Ford in Sandy Hook, Mississippi, just above Angie, Louisiana. The Pearl extends further south from Sandy Hook, forking near Picayune, Mississippi, to become the West Pearl and the East Pearl; both channels empty into Lake Borgne and then the Gulf. 

It derives its name from the numerous pearl shells that cover the bottom of this river, and give it handsome appearance in low water. The lands on each side, at the crossing, for about one mile from the river, are excellent bottom.

The river runs 444 miles total—115 shared between Louisiana and Mississippi—with recreational opportunities every mile of the way. If you want to fish, paddle, ride, bird, swim, or simply bask, it’s easy to find a launch point in either state. But if you’re looking to protect the poor Pearl, you might need to act with more urgency than the average kayak ride requires.

Nesting waterbirds, black bears and wild boars, alligators, and—if you believe the tales—the Honey Island Swamp Monster and perhaps-not-extinct ivory-billed woodpecker are among the creatures that flitter and skitter through the cypress knees of Honey Island Swamp near Slidell, Louisiana. Half of the swamp’s 70,000 acres are preserved as part of the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area; but that posterity may be at stake. In 2015, American Rivers named the Pearl among America’s Most Endangered Rivers, due mostly to a controversial commercial and residential development on the horizon. The development, called “One Lake,” will dredge and widen the river in Jackson, Mississippi, to create a 1,500-acre lake just nine miles downstream from the fifty-year-old Ross Barnett Reservoir. Certain high points will be left as islands, to serve as habitat for the waterway’s wildlife. Developer and oil magnate John McGowan claims that the development will aid in flood control in the Jackson area and has raised money for One Lake accordingly.

In 2015, American Rivers named the Pearl among America’s Most Endangered Rivers, due mostly to a controversial commercial and residential development on the horizon.

Concerned parties from both states insist that dire consequences from dredging the Pearl River will affect the parishes and counties downstream from Jackson, yet only Rankin and Hinds Counties were within the scope of the environmental impact study, which will be published this spring.

This development has been proposed and debated for over twenty years now, in various forms, and One Lake has raised nearly half of the funding needed. Just the Army Corps of Engineers’ approval stands in the way now. For those fighting to stop this development, an upcoming period of public comment, following the publication of the environmental impact study at the beginning of April, is the only opportunity to be heard by the Corps of Engineers before they decide on the future of One Lake. Those who support the development are ready for public attention too, as many believe misinformation to be rampant. For the Pearl, these warring factions comprise the most attentive audience the river has had in decades—as it jams with logs, fills with trash, and fails the fish and wildlife that depend on it. So what’s to be done with the Pearl?

[You may also like: The Next Disaster]

A river becomes a lake

Jackson sits along the Pearl River, with one public access point for those looking to enjoy the water, located within the 305-acre urban oasis that is LeFleur’s Bluff State Park. One Lake touts waterfront development and flood control for the area: not only will the city breathe easier within the Pearl River drainage basin; they might also enjoy themselves. 

The Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood & Drainage Control District (also known as the “Levee Board”) supports One Lake, as does the Greater Jackson Chamber Partnership, which includes the project at the heart of its “Vision 2022” plan for the city. The non-profit Pearl River Vision Foundation was established by McGowan solely to promote One Lake. Two versions of John McGowan’s development have reached the Corps of Engineers before; both were rejected on account of their high costs and environmental impact.

Last year, through the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), the federal government approved (but has not yet paid) $134 million for One Lake—the rest can be raised by a bond issue from the Levee Board. Per the WRDA, an environmental impact study for One Lake was only required for Rankin and Hinds Counties, the areas that will be impacted by its flood-control benefits; and Section 211 of the act allows the levee board to choose the company that will perform the environmental impact study, with approval from the Corps of Engineers.

"We’re tearing down dams now. To build another dam now in an era when we’ve come to realize the detriment they cause—it just makes no sense."

The 1500-acre lake, dredged along a six-mile stretch of the Jackson waterfront, will be set inside the levees of the floodplain and increase the river’s conveyance and capacity within that stretch, allowing a larger volume of water to move through at a slower pace. In the event of a 100-year-flood, the area would ideally experience an eighty-percent reduction in damages, Pearl River Vision Foundation’s Dallas Quinn told the Jackson Free Press in December 2017.

Greater protection from nature’s worst outbursts is no small thing. In April 1979, the “Easter flood” displaced thousands of Jackson residents and wreaked over $500 million in damages. Another flood in 1983 totaled $21 million in damages and 5,000 evacuated residents in Jackson alone.

One Lake’s opponents take issue with the proposed construction methods however. “Clear cutting a thousand acres of bottomland hardwood forest ... is just ignorant considering the natural flood protection these wetlands provide,” asserts the Gulf Restoration Network in an online post entitled “One River | No Lake!” (healthygulf.org/onerivernolake). In the future of this real estate development, said the network’s Andrew Whitehurst in a recent interview, “the ‘One Lake’ will have a bunch of stakeholders who will want to keep that water level steady.”

[Also read: Naturalists can discover rich, biodiverse habitats along the entire length of the Ouachita River]

“Trends in hydrology and flood management are moving away from dams,” said Christopher King, president of the Jackson Audubon Society. “We’re tearing down dams now. To build another dam now in an era when we’ve come to realize the detriment they cause—it just makes no sense.”

Environmental consequences

One Lake’s opponents, including the Gulf Restoration Network and the Jackson Audubon Society, paint a dire picture of what will ensue should the development come to fruition: A strangled Pearl River will get much less water at varying times and lose water to evaporation. The riverbed will become wider and shallower in spots, and stream flow will be irregular. Over time, the river’s course will keep changing.  Ninety-eight waste permits currently allow effluent and chemicals to enter the river along its route to Lake Borgne and the Mississippi Sound on the Gulf Coast; waste will keep coming whether the river’s flow has enough water to dilute it or not.

In this picture, marshes along the Gulf Coast that depend on freshwater from the Pearl will suffer, with their ability to reduce hurricane storm surge affected; the oyster beds in Lake Borgne and the Mississippi Sound will grow too salty to sustain oysters. Approximately ninety-seven percent of Mississippi’s commercial oysters are harvested from the Mississippi Sound, according to the Corps of Engineers.

Two endangered species in the area near the development, the Gulf sturgeon and the ringed sawback turtle, will not thrive in a lake system. “This is the only place in the world where you can find the ringed sawback turtle,” said King. The turtle, dark olive with orange and yellow spots, breeds only in a riparian system, where land meets river. The sturgeon is unable to navigate a weir system. King worries too for the many migrating birds that rely on the Jackson riverfront as they fly south. “Jackson’s a concrete jungle with this little tip of emerald right in the middle. During spring with all the migrations, the park is inundated with birds passing.” Prothonotary warblers and northern parulas, among other visiting birds, breed extensively in the area. “If you flood those grounds, the breeding area is gone. You can’t expect a bird to go contrary to its nature,” said King. 

“This particular developer has been at the nexus of it all,” he added. “Here we are again twenty-two years later, rehashing the same thing. We’re at a loss to understand: why does a One Lake project make it any different? Why are we not taking advantage of flood control systems that aren’t a weir and dam system? Why are endangered species and breeding systems being ignored? There will be an impact downstream ecologically and economically,” said King, citing in particular the swamp tours at Honey Island Swamp in Slidell. “You’re putting people out of business—oyster farmers and fishermen out of work.”

But Levee Board attorney Keith Turner, of Jackson firm Watkins & Eager, disputes many of the opposition’s claims. “Folks have been told that this will dry up the Pearl, with significant impacts to the water quantity. There’s no science to support that. One section of the study specifically addresses that; it’s a twenty-five-page section of the report which analyzes water flows and looks at Ross Barnett Reservoir,” said Turner. He clarified too that One Lake will use a weir, not a dam, with water flowing over the structure constantly and a gate to maintain a minimum flow. The plan will move the existing weir, which stands one hundred yards downstream from the boat launch at LeFleur’s Bluff State Park, to a new location even further downstream, a few miles south of Interstate 20. 

“Downstream there will really be no impact to water flow at all,” he said. “What comes in will be what goes out.“

"Folks have been told that this will dry up the Pearl, with significant impacts to the water quantity. There’s no science to support that."

Weirs in the Lower Pearl already prevent the Gulf sturgeon from swimming upstream as far as Jackson, said Turner. Additionally, the urban area is not prime habitat for the ringed sawback turtle, which also lives in the Bogue Chitto, as the river’s path through Jackson was channelized [straightened out] by the Corps of Engineers in the 1960s. “Nevertheless, we’re mitigating for it all,” he said. “With any major infrastructure project, you will have impacts.”

The attorney promised proof of his claims in the 2,700-page environmental impact study, the  long-awaited publication of which is expected at the beginning of April. “I would have loved to sent this out all over the region earlier to have a response to the misinformation sent out,” said Turner. “We’re ready to start a dialogue.”

The perils of the Pearl

If One Lake has had a benefit thus far, it’s setting the Lower Pearl’s residents into action across parish and state lines. Fearful of the development’s reported threat, the Louisiana Legislature has set up the Lower Pearl River Basin Task Force, chaired by State Senator Sharon Hewitt of Slidell, with State Representative Malinda White of Bogalusa and representatives from the aforementioned parishes and state agencies as well as interested citizens’ groups. The task force is assessing problems with the Lower Pearl River, identifying ways for Louisiana to better manage its interests along the river’s path, and promoting coordination with the State of Mississippi. (Louisiana already has entities set up for the Red River and the Sabine River, which also have other states’ interests involved.)

If One Lake has had a benefit thus far, it’s setting the Lower Pearl’s residents into action across parish and state lines.

Below Bogalusa, a miles-long logjam impedes the Lower Pearl, gathering silt, slowing the river’s stream, and preventing fish—including the endangered Gulf sturgeon—from traveling upstream. According to Glenn Constant of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that agency has funding that covers work needed to assure “fish passage.”  The Corps of Engineers would have to permit the work to be done, but the logjam can be approached from the Louisiana side to remove it and clear a path for the sturgeon to move upstream, with the cost to come from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service funds. 

[Read this: Could a return to natural infrastructure save South Louisiana?]

The task force has also identified another possible funding source to remove the sill [low dam] at Poole’s Bluff, providing a better streambed for the Pearl: a Natural Resources Damage Assessment grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. There’s not funding for every liability, though; Louisiana may soon have to shell out $400,000 to take over a defunct fifty-eight-mile long Pearl River canal system that the Corps of Engineers divested itself of in 2016.  The Corps no longer has oversight, but the state will have to pay for the transfer before it can develop the site for recreational purposes.

The widespread flooding of 2016 highlighted issues in every Louisiana watershed. Sen. Hewitt, along with Sen. Mack “Bodi” White, co-sponsored a resolution asking the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority to develop a plan to manage all of the watersheds in Louisiana. Arcadis, a design and consultancy firm specializing in built and natural assets, won the contract.  “Our goal is to develop a path forward for a statewide comprehensive program,” explained Carly Foster, Planning, Policy, and Economics Practice Lead for the Urban and Coastal Resilience practice within Arcadis, U.S. “We are also looking at what other states and regions are doing and how each one is funded.”

Ordinary citizens have stood up for the Pearl too. Abby Braman, of Madison, Mississippi, near Jackson, was spurred by the sight of plastic trash floating in the river. She discovered the Waterkeeper Alliance, which unites organizations around the country as they protect their local waterways. “I decided to become the riverkeeper for the Pearl River in Mississippi,” she said. “There was a long application process.”

On September 23, 2017, Pearl Riverkeeper led a massive CleanSweep of the Pearl. Abby Braman coordinated the Upper Pearl, with Rep. Malinda White (whose family has a camp on the Pearl) heading up the Louisiana Upper Pearl. Jessica Gauley of Honey Island Kayak Tours in Pearl River, La., oversaw the Lower Pearl.  On that day, according to the website, at some 30 sites, there were 1,015 volunteers and 36,782 pounds of trash collected. The annual event repeats the third weekend this September. Throughout the month of March, Pearl Riverkeeper is promoting a March Mania River Cleanup, where self-paced individual teams will pick up trash at various locations along the Pearl, with an award presented for most trash collected at the end of the month.

Pearl River has many advocates, up and down its 444 miles. This spring, they’ll be arrayed on various battlegrounds: in the online comments of the environmental impact study, in public meetings planned throughout the region, and right on the riverbanks, picking up trash—where bag by plastic bag, they’ll be working to restore the Pearl’s gleam.  

The environmental impact study for One Lake was published in late June and is available here. The Rankin Hinds Pearl River Flood & Drainage Control District will hold a public meeting on July 24 in Jackson, Mississippi. Details here, with a downstream meeting in the works. For more on efforts to clean up the Pearl, visit pearlriverkeeper.com.

This article originally appeared in our March 2018 issue. Subscribe to our print magazine today.