80% of Pass a Loutre Roseau Cane is now dead or dying (Mouth of Miss River)

Alarm raised as mystery pest destroys Mississippi Delta Roseau Cane











At the Pass a Loutre Wildlife Management Area on the far south end of the delta, the cane die-off is especially bad. "Of the the 110,000 acres we have there, [the insect] has affected easily 80 percent," said Vaughan McDonald, a coastal biologist with the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.

Joey Breaux, an environmental specialist with the state Department of Agriculture and Forestry, said roseau cane dies back naturally in winter, but the plant should have reached full or near-full regrowth by now. In many parts of south Plaquemines, the plant has reached just 5 percent or 15 percent regrowth. His department has documented cane die-off as far north as the Bohemia Spillway.

Mystery pest wiping out wetlands at the mouth of the Mississippi River

A tiny bug sucks the life out of parts of a Louisiana delta

Several videos of the Roseau Cane on this facebook page