Wax Lake Delta is an area of active land building along the Louisiana coast (Barras and Morton 2008). It is naturally forming delta that has been building as a result of the Wax Lake Outlet (WLO) channel. The WLO channel was constructed in 1942 off of the Atchafalaya River to prevent flooding in Morgan City. It diverts approximately 30-40% of the water from the Atchafalaya River (equivalent to 10-12%) of Mississippi River discharge (McManus 2002, Roberts et al 2003). The Wax Lake delta became subaerial in 1973 following a large spring flood. The current subaerial land growth is ~2.0 km2 yr-1 (Roberts et al 1997) and delta front expansion is ~0.3 km yr -1 (Parker and Sequeiros 2006). The system is completely fresh, the only time salt water is present is during storm surge overflow. The zonation of freshwater vegetation is largely controlled by inundation and elevation. The ecosystem is dominated by primary successional freshwater plant communities including, Salix Nigra (black willow), Phragmites australis (common reed), Typha domigensis (southern cattail), Colocasia esculenta (elephant ear), Sagittaria platyphylla (delta duck potato), Nelumbo lutea (water lotus), and submerged aquatic vegetation such as Potamageton spp. (pond weed). Currently research is underway by a number of groups both at LSU and other institutions (http://www.nced.umn.edu/content/wax-lake-delta), to better understand the biogeochemical cycling and ecogeomorphology of this delta, and apply the knowledge gained to restoration scenarios involving large scale river diversions.