DEQ participates in Boy Scout Centennial event
On Saturday, Feb. 20, staff environmental scientists from DEQ were on hand in Butte La Rose to participate in this year’s Boy Scout Centennial event, an event marking the 100th anniversary of Scouting in the United States.
With over a thousand attendees during the course of the day, the event focused on various environmental and ecological activities such as planting cypress trees and taking part in demonstrations regarding environmental preservation and restoration. Scouts from the Evangeline Area Boy Scout Council planted over 4,400 bald cypress seedlings across 300 acres of land in the Atchafalaya Basin near the I-10 welcome center in Butte La Rose. The planting event will ultimately result in promotion and preservation of the area for future generations.
Other activities included a tour of law enforcement boats from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, an exhibit from the Army Corps of Engineers which focused on their Basin Recreational Areas, a “Friends of the Atchafalaya” wildlife exhibit, and exhibits from the LSU School of Renewable Natural Resources and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources’ Atchafalaya Basin Program.
DEQ environmental staff members spoke with interested scouts, adult leaders and the public regarding nonpoint source water pollution control measures, river and coastal dynamics, as well as wetlands preservation and conservation. Attendees received a hands-on interactive experience with DEQ’s “Walnut Bayou” demonstration, which was staffed by DEQ Environmental Scientist Al Hindrichs. “Walnut Bayou was designed as a learning tool to educate and entertain the public on watersheds and how they work and affect the environment. The model is a small-scale example on the physical mechanics of water flow and river dynamics,” said Hindrichs. “It is a great tool for educating the attendees on how streams work and how our actions upstream can have a direct impact on the environment downstream.”
Tree planting was the focus of the event, as the scouts worked to repair the Atchafalaya Basin’s loss of hundreds of cypress trees which have since been harvested for garden mulch and lumber. Invasive, or “trash” trees, grew in their place. With assistance from several state and federal agencies, the Evangeline Area Council of the Boy Scouts converged upon the area to partake in a replanting effort in order that future visitors to the Atchafalaya Basin can enjoy the beauty and benefits of a cypress forest. In honor of the Boy Scouts of America’s 100th anniversary, the new forest is being called the “Centennial Forest.”
The planting marks the first "good turn" or good deed the scouts have undertaken as part of their centennial celebration. Additional events may include work on the development of primitive campsites, a “trash bash” cleanup and the creation of hiking and canoeing trails in the area. The work will have a tremendous impact on the basin, as the Atchafalaya River is a major distributary of the Mississippi River, which drains over 40 percent of the United States, from New York to the Dakotas.
Participating agencies in the event included the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the St. Martin Parish government and the St. Martin Parish Sheriff's Office.