Mobile Basin

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 expanse of cypress swamps, oxbow lakes, marshland, hardwood stands and rivers — is teeming with more aquatic species than almost anywhere in North America.

More than four hundred and fifty scientists, students, officials and citizens recently met in Mobile. The agenda was to discuss ways to deal with the environmental threats facing the region.

Rough waters may be ahead for the Mobile Bay Basin.The 2017 Most Endangered Rivers report named the Mobile River and Mobile Bay Basin as the fourth most…