Bayou Manchac

EBR proposal to purchase and preserve 540 vacant acres in the Ward Creek and Bayou Duplantier floodplain.

EBR looking to buy large swatch of land, plans to keep them vacant East Baton Rouge Parish wants to buy 540 acres of vacant land across the parish and do virtually nothing with it.

Ribbon cutting at the Highland Park launch.

First of what may become a boat launch trail in East Baton Rouge is dedicated at Highland Road park Back in 2012, when Carolyn McKnight took over East Baton Rouge Parish’s parks and recreation agency, some residents asked her to look into developing an easily accessible boat path for

Found puppy, mixed breed, Camp Dr., Prairieville. Already tried Lost Pets page. Send me a message to claim or adopt. Looks like it might be slightly smaller than a lab when grown. This is a gorgeous puppy, but we get a constant stream of strays on the bayou.

Proposed Bill Causes Concern

The Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation is concerned about a proposed state bill (SB 132) which would allow de-snagging and dredging on several rivers in the Pontchartrain Basin. These rivers, or portions of these rivers, are in the State's Natural and Scenic Waterways program which is intended to preserve these natural waterways. The bill is in response to the disastrous flooding that occurred on some of these rivers in 2016. It is understandable that emphasis on helping protect these areas from future flooding is paramount. However, putting aside the environmental degradation that would likely occur, modifying a river's channel should not be done piece-meal and without a broad understanding of the water flow and how the flow may be changed. In short, dredging or de-snagging can actually make flooding worse. Making the water move faster may seem desirable but, if you are on the down flow end of that accelerated water, you may flood sooner and with higher water levels. LPBF's general response to this riverine flooding is as follows. Each of these rivers has a watershed that includes all the small tributaries and channels that create a network of drainage. These watersheds must be the basis for affecting this type of flash flooding impacts and to minimize the environmental impacts. On May 12, 2017, LPBF conducted a day-long workshop on the 2016 flooding. The consistent theme was that the watersheds need to be the basis for planning. The bill and its progress in the state legislature may be found here. http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=17RS&b=SB132

Louisiana Scenic Rivers are under attack (message from the Sierra Club Delta Chapter)

The Louisiana Scenic Rivers Act is a gem of environmental law that that protects some of Louisiana’s most beautiful recreational waterways. The law currently protects 64 Scenic Rivers from destructive activities by setting up a permit system administered by Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and by outright prohibition of clearing, snagging and dredging. Six rivers in the Scenic Rivers system currently have exclusions in the Act so that clearing, snagging and dredging are allowed for flood control and drainage. SB 132 by Sen Bodi White in the current legislature originally proposed exclusions to allow clearing and dredging on three rivers, the Amite, Comite and Bayou Manchac. Then Sen Sharon Hewitt introduced an amendment in the Senate to include four more rivers, the Pearl, Tchefuncte, Bogue Falaya and Abita Rivers.

This bill will be considered in House Natural Resources and Environment Committee this coming Wednesday, May 17. Here is the committee agenda:http://house.louisiana.gov/Agendas_2017/May_2017/0516_17_NR.pdf The original bill and the amendment proposes to use the August flooding in Tangipahoa and St. Tammany Parishes as an excuse to dredge scenic rivers and turn them into drainage ways for development. Clearing and snagging might not be so bad but dredging kills a river and the wildlife that depend on it for a long time. There is a rush to dredge these rivers but no studies have been conducted to identify the real causes and cures for flooding in the north shore area. We will be asking the legislators to hold off on dredging of rivers and conduct scientific studies to determine best solutions to the problem. Sierra Club is not against controlling flooding but we do want it to be conducted on the basis of sound scientific information.

We are asking interested persons to contact legislators on the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee and voice opposition to SB 132. The list of Representatives on the committee is at: http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Cmtes/NaturalResources.aspx

If you see that a member of the committee represents your district please call your legislator first. You can go here to find out who your legislators are: http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/FindMyLegislators.aspx

Thanks for whatever you can do,

La. Scenic River dredging and clear-cutting makes flooding worse. Bodi White's Bill now expanded to dredge and clear-cut 6 Louisiana Scenic Rivers. Everyone who flooded wished the flow down the Amite would have slowed down. This bill speeds up floodwaters headed towards communities. It's the upper Northern reaches of most of these rivers that are regulated as scenic. The Bill appears to be walking through the Louisiana Legislature without opposition. http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1039513

Sen. Bodi White Bill to Clear-Cut and dredge Scenic Rivers doesn't understand that "improving" drainage also makes backwater flow faster and our bigger floods get worse. Yes, better drainage is great, but for areas subject to backwater flooding it's a bad idea. The portion of the Amite deemed scenic is North of Denham, so "improving" that drainage would also bring more floodwater to Baton Rouge. Who told you this was a good idea?
http://www.legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1030021

Wildlife and Fisheries Scenic Rivers Program will do a survey of Bayou Manchac tomorrow.