Louisiana Is Home to America's Largest Swamp

Louisiana Files #002

Many people call every body of water in Louisiana a "bayou."

But bayous, swamps, and marshes aren't the same thing.

A bayou is a slow-moving waterway, often winding through forests and wetlands.

A swamp is a forest that stays flooded for much of the year, filled with towering cypress trees and hanging Spanish moss.

A marsh is open wetland dominated by grasses instead of trees.

The Atchafalaya Basin, stretching across south-central Louisiana, is the largest river swamp in the United States. Covering nearly one million acres during high water, it's home to black bears, alligators, bald eagles, crawfish, and hundreds of other species.

It's beautiful.

It's mysterious.

And for generations, it's hidden stories that have never been found.

Some states have forests.

Louisiana has bayous.

Every place has a story. Louisiana has thousands.

— Christopher Galvez