DOC NYC ’17: Rodents of Unusual Size

Thanks to animal rights activists, Hurricane Katrina was more severe than it could have and should have been. It is a story that sounds so crazy, it could only happen in the Louisiana bayou country, but it is inevitably spreading along America’s coastal wetlands. The direct culprit is the burrowing, grass-inhaling mega-swamp rat called the nutria, but it has been aided and abetted by clueless people. However, viewers will meet some of the hardy Louisianans who are rising to the nutria challenge in Quinn Costello, Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer’s Rodents of Unusual Size (trailer here), which screens during DOC NYC 2017.

Essentially, Nutria are just plain varmints. They are an invasive species that was deliberately imported to Louisiana during the Depression to provide jobs on fur farms. However, during one dark and stormy night, a colony of nutria escaped their cages into the swamps—an environment perfectly suited to them. For decades, this was not a problem, because their pelts were valuable to fur trappers. Hence, their population remained in check. Unfortunately, the bottom fell out of the market in the 1980s, thanks to the anti-fur campaign.

There was no longer an incentive to trap nutria, but the nutria continued doing what rodents do best. As a result, they have literally chewed up the coastal marshlands, leaving the soil fragile and infertile due to their massive tunneling networks. Of course, the lush wetlands were a prime defense against serious hurricanes, but tragically, they were appreciably depleted when Katrina hit.

On one level, Rodents is an object lesson in the unintended consequences of cheap, feel-good activism. Yet, it is also a tribute to Louisiana resiliency. In recent years, the once-exploding nutria population has actually decreased dramatically, thanks to the $5 bounty U.S. Fish & Wildlife now pays for every nutria tale. Clearly, there is no limit to what well-armed and highly-motivated Cajun bounty-hunters can accomplish, when they put their mind to it.

In addition, various New Orleanians are working to create sustainable demand for nutria products. Righteous Fur markets nutria as a guilt-free fur with its hipster-friendly accessories, while some New Orleans celebrity chefs promote nutria as a local cuisine. In fact, there is no bigger celebrity chef than Kermit Ruffins, who fixes up some nutria barbeque for a skeptical audience at his Tremé Mother-in-Law Lounge.

Rodents is a terrific documentary. It illuminates a fascinating case study, while showing plenty of sensitivity to local customs and culture. The doc also sounds great, featuring the music of Ruffins and the Lost Bayou Ramblers. There is even a sly animated history lesson, narrated by Wendell Pierce that is totally in keeping with the attitude and sensibilities of the Crescent City and Pelican State. Plus, we meet a service dog named “George W. Bush” and the title is a Princess Bride reference, so what more could you ask for?

Maybe more Ruffins. At a whisker under seventy-minutes, Rodents totally hits it and quits it, without any wasted time. Yet, it is an important and informative film, especially given the spread of the nutria population. Very highly recommended, Rodents of Unusual Size screens this Wednesday (11/15) as part of this year’s DOC NYC.

Hurricane on the Bayou (but not in NY)

If an advocacy film does not play New York City, does it really make a statement? When Greg MacGillivray’s Hurricane on the Bayou, the IMAX film on Hurricane Katrina and the Louisiana wetlands was announced, it seemed odd that the film was not playing in the City proper. After all, eighty-percent of the writers interested in covering it (outside of Louisiana) could well be New York film and music journalists.

Since I happen to be in Denver, I was able to catch it. Hurricane is a mixed bag, but it deserves attention. The IMAX nature photography is quite impressive, and the gators steal the show. It starts with the weak conceit of following fourteen year-old fiddle prodigy Amanda Shaw as she assembles her school project on the shrinking wetlands. (Could the audience be treated as adults and not lectured to by a teenager?)

Hurricane was literally being filmed as Katrina hit, and when it did, all bets were off. We definitely see the storm’s fury and the human drama of the aftermath, which is moving. There is nothing like an IMAX screen to capture the enormity of the flooding.

Music plays a big role in the film. In addition to Shaw, we hear from New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, Zydeco musician Chubby Carrier, bluesman Tab Benoit, and gospel singer Marva Wright. We also hear some licensed Dr. John and a brief Ken Burns-style Louis Armstrong tribute.

Hurricane is best when it shows instead of tells. Benoit becomes the voice of the filmmakers, but he almost overstates his case. There are in fact some questions that could have been addressed. As Young and Bush wrote in the NY Times, Mississippi had the sort of barrier islands we hear advocated as a hurricane defense, yet Katrina hit there just as hard. Indeed, the floodgates also advocated in Hurricane are most likely the best defense.

That is not to say we should not work to restore Louisiana’s wetlands. They clearly play an important role in the state’s cultural and commercial identity. However, the state needs to carefully balance its priorities at this time. As Hurricane makes abundantly clear, another hurricane like Katrina will cause immense devastation. Still, if you are in Denver, or wherever, Hurricane is well worth seeing, particularly for the gators.

The Wetlands, and What Plagues New Orleans

Wetland restoration is getting a lot of press agitation, but is it really the right priority for post-Katrina Louisiana? Certainly, protecting and eventually rebuilding Louisiana’s wetlands is a worthy goal. Louisiana’s swamps and bayous are important to its cultural and commercial identity. (Years before Katrina, I enjoyed a bayou tour, watching the gators snap up the floating marshmallows.) However, much of the rhetoric surrounding the wetlands issue is incomplete or misleading.

In the aftermath of Katrina, coastal geographers Robert S. Young and David M. Bush writing in the New York Times (yes, really) dispelled some myths:

“First, many people – scientists and otherwise – have insinuated that if we had begun wetlands restoration in the Mississippi Delta years ago, it would have reduced the impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and the coast. This is highly unlikely. Storm surge waters approached the coast from the east, pushed into Lake Pontchartrain by the counterclockwise flow of the hurricane’s winds; the natural wetlands that used to exist downriver from the city would have done little to mitigate the damage.

Second, some have suggested that rebuilding the Louisiana barrier islands would protect the delta region in future storms. But just look what happened elsewhere: Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge quickly inundated the barrier islands of the Gulf Islands National Seashore off Mississippi, which are far more robust and vegetated than the Louisiana islands ever were, on its way to devastating the state’s shoreline. Let’s face it, even if reconstructed, the Louisiana islands would be little more than a speed bump to a storm the size of Hurricane Katrina”

Regardless of the efficacy of wetlands as a Hurricane defense, there are other concerns to take into account—namely mosquitoes. As the University of Arizona News makes clear, if you rebuild wetlands, you will absolutely be increasing the mosquito population. Mosquitoes carry diseases, like malaria, West Nile, and encephalitis. Currently, New Orleans’ healthcare system is in sorry shape. The city’s network of charity hospitals remains severely damaged by Katrina and LSU has been unable to open six neighborhood clinics in FEMA supplied trailers because of paralyzing city regulation and bureaucracy. If all the efficient state bureaucrats work in the Louisiana’s environmental department and successfully rebuild wetland areas, while the healthcare distribution system remains mired in incompetence, the health implications for New Orleanians could be perverse.

To put the potential health costs in perspective, look at the effect of banning DDT cited by Alston Chase. In the 1960’s malaria deaths were down to 100,000 in India and 13 in Sri Lanka thanks to the pesticide. However, under the influence of blind faith in the unproved dangers of DDT, the countries were pressured to switch to less effective (and more environmentally damaging) pesticides. The result: “The incidence of malaria in India is now back up to more than a million and more than 500,000 in Sri Lanka.”

New Orleans heath systems are ill-equipped to handle an upsurge in malaria cases or an outbreak of West Nile. Yet, this is a foreseeable result of a massive effort to rebuild the wetlands without an aggressive regime of pesticides. Hurricane protection is certainly important. Levee fortifications and new floodgates would more effective than wetland restoration, and would not have negative public health repercussions.