Biloxi ain't what it used to be

and it never will be again.

That's just my conclusion, of course, after spending a week working to restore homes that were damaged 2+ years ago by Katrina. There were 50 volunteers in our group from Wisconsin, Illinois and Connecticut. That's a pretty typical week for the Back Bay Mission that we were working with. There are other agencies with volunteers as well. So far, they have barely scratched the surface. It may take 10-15 years for the Gulf coast to recover from Katrina and when it does, it will be totally changed. Before the storm, much of the Gulf coast looked like a (very poor) version of Wisconsin Dells, with 100 miles of homes, restaurants, small hotels and T-shirt shops lining the white sand beach for 100 miles. Now it looks like Atlantic City with a few 30-story casinos standing along the beachfront separated by vast areas of -- nothing. Blocks and blocks of slabs and concrete steps. Debris still hanging 20 feet up in the trees.

Part of the problem is that federal aid is being diverted. (See last week's NY Times story at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/16/us/16mississippi.html). Part is FEMA's total incompetence. What you get when you elect politicians who believe government is the problem. Part of it is that Mississippi has so few public service agencies that they can't manage the reconstruction. Part is speculation by landowners who hope to make fat profits selling out to casinos or condo developers. Part is the fact that flood insurance has increased by 2000 percent so homeowners and mom & pop businesses can't afford it. The result is that maybe 100,000 homes are still missing or unlivable.

The people we are helping are incredibly grateful. I never heard so many people say "thank you" in my life. But many are not even on the list to get help yet. They are living in toxic FEMA trailers or with relatives. I don't know what any of this has to do with books about nature - although nature sure asserted herself here. It's just as much about human nature.

In the photo: Pat Tucker, Eagle River; myself; Phil Haslanger and Dave Michaels, Madison.