MOBILE-TENSAW DELTA, Ala. (AP) — Thousands of American lotuses carpet the water’s surface, faces turned toward the morning sun. Bright yellow warblers flit among cypress trees along a creek bank. A paddlefish jumps as a motorboat rounds a bend.
The Mobile-Tensaw Delta — a lush, vibrant and surprisingly intact over 400-square-mile (1,036-square-kilometer) expanse of cypress swamps, oxbow lakes, marshland, hardwood stands and rivers — is teeming 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.
And the delta is the only place 77-year-old Lucy Hollings has called home.
As a kid, she swam daily across the Tensaw River, gathering a mouthful of grass to prove she’d made it to the other side. Hollings — known as “Ms. Pie” — still fishes daily for white perch and largemouth bass. She’s sole proprietor of Cloverleaf Landing, a boat launch that offers anglers from far and wide access to the river and delta.