Congress has put up money to preserve the Everglades, San Francisco Bay and Chesapeake Bay, but has yet to give Louisiana money to protect its wetlands. Louisiana officials are trying to convince Congress that Louisiana's very productive coastline is a national treasure. If successful, the state may be able to get the financial support to carry out its $14 billion blueprint to restore the disappearing coastal wetlands.

State officials are hoping that one of the opening steps to getting Louisiana's problem the attention it needs is a recently published book, "Holding Back the Sea," by Chris Hallowell, a New York City journalism professor and free-lance writer. It tells the story of Louisiana's disappearing wetlands and the effort to reclaim some of it. Gov. Mike Foster is so taken by the book that he gave a copy to the more than 350 people who attended a "coastal summit" recently. He also sent a copy to President George W. Bush, whom Foster counts as a friend.