Since it’s a weekend, if people have time, here’s the classic narrative summary by John McPhee of the Mississippi delta and the role of the Corps: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/02/23/atchafalaya

Just wanted to say thanks for the recommendation. Excellent article though it took me a few days to finish.

"Atchafalaya" is one of four articles compiled into a book, The Control of Nature, that is also excellent. One other of the four that I remember from that book is about how erosion shapes the Los Angeles basin -- "Los Angeles Against the Mountains".

They also have a huge presence in nearby Vicksburg (waterways), so it might have been an easy resource to call on.