Wanted: Swamp-loving snowbirds for part-time environmental jobs in Cajun country. Responsibilities will include ecosystem maintenance, occasional guided tours, and data collection. Free housing provided, along with wide vistas and scenic birdwatching opportunities. Must love alligators, loathe nutria.
Currently, there are no postings like the one above in the New Orleans Times-Picayune or the Houma Courier, but Louisiana’s wetlands could market themselves as a new haven for older people seeking low living costs and substantive community involvement during their retirement years. We estimate that a $92.4 million marsh maintenance project could provide 1,500 retirement age residents with free program housing, training, and materials over a period of ten years.
Comparison of Louisiana Age Bracket Percentages versus the United States (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
The New York Times reported last week that retirees, in exchange for free camping sites and subsidized rent, are signing up for positions in nature management throughout the country. As a generation whose coming of age coincided with the civil rights movement and the publication of Silent Spring, citizens in their sixties and seventies have expressed a desire to spend their golden years maintaining America’s natural legacy and re-engaging young people with the country’s natural parks. Louisiana can and should look to create such positions for older Americans in the wetlands of the Mississippi River Delta.
These jobs should be advertised to both out-of-state retirees and elderly people born and bred on the bayous. Though Louisiana has a slightly younger age profile than the nation as a whole, it is still home to more than 525,000 residents over age 65. Women make up nearly 60% of Louisiana’s elderly population, and many residents of retirement age, regardless of their gender, struggle to get by on fixed incomes. Though rents in Louisiana are lower than the national average, nearly 43% of state residents use 35% or more of their monthly income to cover housing costs.
Median Monthly Gross Rent (Cash Payment) by Parish, 2000 (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)
Within the state, rents have historically been highest in urbanized parishes and the Mississippi River Delta, as shown in the map at right of parish-level rental data from the 2000 census. This housing stress is strongly tied to age, on top of the broader national correlations with race and class. Work programs with subsidized housing options included could be a boon for older residents interested in maintaining restored marshlands, connecting with their natural surroundings, and keeping their living costs low.
How much would it cost the state or federal government to house, train, and equip this grey-haired green coalition? Let’s assume that the free housing is given in exchange for work by the elderly volunteers. The Louisiana coastal area covers approximately 12,000 square miles. If we assume that one-fourth (3,000 square miles) of that area would be included in this program, and if we estimate that one elderly tour guide/part-time caretaker could (on average) be responsible for two square miles of natural habitat, then there would be roughly 1,500 people needed for the entire zone.
If we assume that the average household size for this set is 1.5 (500 retirement-age couples, 500 single people), and if we assume a gross monthly rent (including utilities) of $700, then monthly expenses for housing these 1,500/1.5 = 1,000 households would be $700,000. Using an estimated 3% annual increase in rents (in line with recent year-on-year Consumer Price Index inflation) and a 5% discount rate, then the total housing costs, discounted over a decade, would be $73.48 million.
Let’s assume that proposed participants would require a one-time training course in wetland management. If we peg that cost at $500, that adds an additional $750,000 to the total program bill. If we then assume that supplementary materials, such as a paddleboat for navigating around the bayou and tools for day-to-day management, are roughly $18,140 for each household over a ten-year period, then the cumulative program cost (housing, training, materials) would be roughly $92.37 million.
A $92.4 million dollar program for ten years of educational and ecosystem enrichment by 1,500 elderly Americans (equivalent to a positions per budgeted $1 million ratio of 16.2) seems like a good deal. In fact, the actual cost of housing these residents would likely be lower. A disproportionately high percentage of Louisianans live in mobile homes, and these participants would simply require space on which to park their trailers. In addition, with more than 500,000 saltwater fishermen in the state and legions of recreational hunters, Louisiana has earned a deserved reputation as a "sportsman's paradise". As a result, there could be thousands of older Americans with experience tracking nutria and catching bass in southern Louisiana who would eagerly participate in this initiative with few hang-ups about swamp living.
While land rights could be an issue, as much of coastal Louisiana is held by private landowners and energy corporations, we believe that active management of surface marshlands and bayous could coexist with existing economic activity in the region. Furthermore, it would have little (if any) impact on sub-surface mineral rights. We think that the coastal zone merits support for a proposed expansion of this conservation program.