Mississippi Alluvial Valley

The Mississippi Alluvial Valley (MAV), also referred to as the Lower Mississippi Valley, Mississippi Alluvial Plain, or just “the Delta” historically was the largest forested wetland ecosystem in North America.  This 22 million acre floodplain extends from the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at Cairo, Illinois, to the northern Gulf of Mexico, with a drainage basin encompassing 41% of the conterminous United States. The topographically complex floodplain features a mosaic of ridges, swales, meander belts and backswamps that supports a diverse and ecologically rich forested wetland ecosystem – one of the most productive in North America.