Let's face it, the Mississippi Alluvial Plain just ain't got the same ring to it. But that's what it is, and it stretches up to Cairo, Illinois, widening out down to N.O. and taking in parts of the 3 states.

Mary, who knows what Willie was thinking. It's been a long time since it was the floor of the sea, although it was at one time. But I will buy the primordial forests part. Much of the Delta was thick dense malarial forests, some not cleared until well into the 20th century. It took a lot of work and death to clear it. Forested parts still remain and the Conservancy and other groups are trying to get the percentage of land in hardwood bottomland restored to some glimmer of what was once there. Although the panthers and bears are few and the parakeets are gone, it is still a mighty refuge for lots of wildlife, especially the Great Mississippi Flyway for birds. There is a reason Audubon hung out there.

Like in the west, there will be struggles ahead between the need to restore land and the need to keep it as the great agricultural resource it is.

It's a special place, come see it sometime if you haven't. I recommend not in the summer. Cotton time is good (September), come for a festival and take a blues pilgrimage.