Cypress-tupelo swamps along the Louisiana coast face environmental stressors that range from hurricane impacts to saltwater intrusion, with some pressures created by development and others natural. Greater incidences of drought, storm surge, and saltwater intrusion, together with the persistent effects of sea-level rise and coastal land submergence, pose serious natural threats to these habitats, and land submergence is especially evident in Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge. Research partnerships between the U.S. Geological Survey's National Wetlands Research Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are monitoring and assessing climate change impacts on 16 cypress-tupelo swamps on four National Wildlife Refuges and on state and private lands in Louisiana, Georgia, and South Carolina. At Bayou Teche Refuge, metal bands on trees, PVC structures, and wooden litterfall traps support research by collecting falling leaves so researchers can examine how the amount of leaf material produced from year to year may vary due to environmental stressors. In 2005, Hurricane Rita made landfall approximately 140 miles west of Bayou Teche NWR and deposited a 5.3 foot storm surge at this location, as measured by a U.S. Geological Survey water gauge. Although salinity at this location was not altered by the surge, a pulse of salinity was detected in a cypress-tupelo swamp at Mandalay NWR, 40 miles east-southeast of this location, and surge often deposits large amounts of sediment in cypress-tupelo swamps.