Abstract. The Mississippi coastline is 113 linear kilometers (70 miles) long and its estuaries cover approximately 594 km (369 mi; Figure 1) (Handley and others, 2007). It has a man-made sand beach 43.5 km (27 mi) long and 595.5 km (370 mi) of shoreline (Klein and others, b., 1998).

On December 8, 2004, President George W. Bush signed into Public Law 108-447 establishing the Mississippi Gulf Coast as a National Heritage Area. This enabling legislation designated the six coastal counties of Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Pearl River, Stone and George County as a National Heritage Area.

The first people to live on the Coast were the American Indians. The Biloxi, the Pascagoula, and the Moctobi tribes lived on the banks of the Pascagoula River, while the Acolapissa tribe lived near the Pearl River. The Gulf Coast Indians built long, one-story houses of mud, with bark roofs.