SPOTLIGHT | CONSERVATION Thousands of American lotuses carpet the water's surface, turned toward the morning sun. Yellow warblers flit among cypress trees along a creek bank. A paddlefish jumps as a motorboat rounds a bend.
The more than 400-square-mile Mobile-Tensaw Delta — a lush, vibrant and surprisingly intact expanse of cypress swamps, oxbow lakes, marshland, hardwood stands and rivers — teems with more aquatic species than almost anywhere in North America. It's considered one of the world's most important delta ecosystems, yet its ecological riches are only a part of the even more diverse watershed that includes much of Alabama. It's the only place 77-year-old Lucy Hollings calls home.
As a kid, she swam daily across the Tensaw River. She still fishes daily and is the sole proprietor of Cloverleaf Landing, a boat launch that offers anglers access to the river and delta. "I know I live in the most beautiful place in the world," said Hollings, who cools off in the shade of towering sweetgum trees draped with Spanish moss and watches dazzling sunsets from her deck.
The delta is a critical conduit between the rest of Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico — "a dynamo" that continually exchanges energy between the river systems and the Gulf, said Bill Finch, director of a forest research center. Two-thirds of the state drains to the delta, which cleans water and warehouses silt that could damage Mobile Bay and its fisheries. It's a spawning ground for many fish species.
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