A vital and volatile part of the New Orleans landscape and lifestyle, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin actually contains three major bodies of water—Lakes Borgne, Pontchartrain, and Maurepas. These make up the Pontchartrain estuary. Robert W. Hastings provides a thorough examination of the historical and environmental research on the basin, with emphasis on its environmental degradation and the efforts to restore and protect this estuarine system. He also explores the current biological condition of the lakes. Hastings begins with the geological formation of the lakes and the relationship between Native Americans and the water they referred to as Okwa'ta, the “wide water.” From the historical period, he describes the forays of French explorer Pierre Le Moyne D'Iberville in 1699 and traces the environmental history of the basin through the development of the New Orleans metropolitan area. Using the lakes for transportation and then recreation, the surrounding population burgeoned, and this growth resulted in severe water pollution and other environmental problems. In the 1980s, the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation led a concerted drive to restore the lakes, an ongoing effort that has proved significant.

Discovering Louisiana is a beautiful paean to the state's diverse natural habitats, from the hills and piney woods in the north to the thousands of miles of shoreline in the south. As the book's 150 color photographs reveal, Louisiana is much more than the swamps and marshes with which it is most often associated. C. C. Lockwood, one of the nation's outstanding nature and wildlife photographers and the premier chronicler of the natural wonders of Louisiana and the Gulf region, captures splendid views -- both panoramic and intimate: the jagged bluffs of the Tunica Hills in West Feliciana Parish; cascading waterfalls and winding creeks in the Kisatchie National Forest in central Louisiana; and unobstructed autumnal vistas from the summit of Bates Mountain, near Shreveport. Lockwood travels along many of the state's scenic rivers and lakes, photographing the mist-shrouded Bogue Chitto River at dawn; the steep, sandy banks of Saline Bayou, which is bordered by towering hardwood trees; and the vast, blue expanse of Lake Pontchartrain, the state's largest lake. He returns to his beloved Atchafalaya, the swamp area that is home to a teeming abundance of wildlife, including raccoons, nutria, alligators, snakes, turtles, egrets, herons, owls, and eagles. He travels to the state's prairies, bogs, and cheniers, which, though small in size, nonetheless are very important for the state's wildlife community. Finally, he visits the coast, where he photographs an amazing array of birds on the barrier islands. Lockwood augments his breathtaking photographs with an engaging first-person narrative account of his adventures. He describes the idyllic pleasures of a hundred-mile, five-day canoe trip down the Bogue Chitto and West Pearl rivers, the anticipation of climbing the state's highest peak, Driskill Mountain, and the dangers of trying to navigate five-foot swells in Terrebonne Bay. Throughout the book, Lockwood skillfully conveys the magic that he finds in all of Louisiana and the concern he feels for the state's fragile ecosystem.