Location

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Bayou Fountain is located in Baton Rouge Louisiana[1]. It runs Southeast starting at Louisiana State University[1] and continuing through Baton Rouge[2].

 
Full stretch of Bayou Fountain
 
North most section of Bayou Fountain on the Southwest side of Louisiana State University's campus.

History

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Once connected to the Mississippi River[1], Bayou Fountain[2] allowed springtime flooding[3][4] of the river into the area's swamps. In the past, Bayou Fountain was a dense hardwood swamp[2], however due to urban and agricultural development the hardwood species have been declining in this area since the 1800's[5][6]. Because of this, invasive species (such as the Chinese Tallow tree[7]) have outcompeted much of the native flora[6][2].

Pollution

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Kayaking on Bayou Fountain, 2015

Because of the Bayou's urban location, it frequently collects litter[3]. Organizations such as Keep Louisiana Beautiful work with the Louisiana Governor to remove litter booms when they occur[8].




References

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  1. ^ a b c Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey. (1980). Land use and land cover and associated maps for Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Mississippi (Open-File Report 80-173). U.S. Geological Survey. https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr80173
  2. ^ a b c d DeWeese, G. G., Grissino-Mayer, H. D., & Lam, N. (2007). Historical Land-Use/Land-Cover Changes in a Bottomland Hardwood Forest, Bayou Fountain, Louisiana. Physical Geography, 28(4), 345–359. https://doi.org/10.2747/0272-3646.28.4.345
  3. ^ a b Coxe, M. F. (1992) Spatial Interpretation of Urban Flood Hazards and Public Policy in the Bayou Fountain Basin, Louisiana. Unpublished master's thesis, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
  4. ^ Coxe, M. F. (1991) Flood Hazard Scenarios in a Pleistocene-Holocene Basin. Unpublished paper presented at the proceedings of the 18th national conference on water resources planning and management, ASCE Water Resources Planning and Management Division, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  5. ^ Delcourt, H. R. (1976) Pre-settlement vegetation of the north of Red River Land District, Louisiana. Castanea , Vol. 41, 122-139.
  6. ^ a b DeWeese, G. G. (2001) Bottomland Forest Reconstruction and Classification Using General Land Office Surveys, Remote Sensing, and Geographic Information Systems. Unpublished master's thesis, Department of Geography and Anthropology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
  7. ^ Burns, J. H. and Miller, T. E. (2004) Invasion of Chinese tallow ( Sapium sebiferum ) in the Lake Jackson area, Northern Florida. American Midland Naturalist , Vol. 152, 410-417.
  8. ^ Keep Louisiana Beautiful. (2022, June 20). State leaders paddle out to see Bayou Fountain litter boom. Keep Louisiana Beautiful. Retrieved from https://keeplouisianabeautiful.org