Annual Symposiums
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“We have all been energized by the optimism and early successes of Project Front Yard so far. This summit gives us two things we need at this stage-- lessons from a successful model in another community and the opportunity to discuss next steps. LCVC is committed to this effort long-term because we believe that it can ultimately make Lafayette an even more desirable community to visit,” said Ben Berthelot, President and CEO of LCVC.
Project Front Yard will host Tom Ethans, the director of Take Pride Winnipeg!, for a breakfast and beautification summit sponsored by Lafayette Convention and Visitors Commission. Attendees can register for only the breakfast or for the entire morning event.
Touring The River In Our Front Yard
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David Cheramie and his wife Mary Ann at the Bayou Vermilion District Booth at PlantFest
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The lucky winner of the Rain Barrel is Joan Burns of Sulphur, Louisiana
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Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association at 2013 PlantFest
Rusty Petitjean and Kathy Van Ness volunteer at the BVPA booth at PlantFest
On Saturday, September 14, 2013 the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association had its first information booth at the Lafayette Parish Master Gardener Association PlantFest at the Horse Farm. Hundreds of festival goers stopped by to register for the Rain Barrel donated by the Lafayette Consolidated Government - Environmental Quality.They also suggested neighborhoods that might be interested in the Storm Drain Marking Program. This will be the first of many to create an awareness of local water issues.
Clean Streams Lecture Series
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
11:30 a.m.
Vermilionville
BRETT SPIERS, Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division (EPA-CID), Special Agent in charge of Baton Rouge Office
MICHAEL DANIELS, Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Criminal Investigation Division, Criminal Enforcement Counsel
and
RYAN BRIGNAC, Supervisor of LDEQ’s Criminal Investigation Division, Lafayette Office n
These experts will present an overview of environmental crimes including illegal dumping, illegal burning, and water pollution including actual case examples. The presentation is mostly pictures and should interest anyone. Question and answers will follow. Everyone is invited to stay for lunch at La Cuisine de Maman.Reservations click HERE
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Turning the Tide
Retired couple works to clean up Vermilion River Kris Wartelle The Daily Advertiser When Charles and Jan Wyatt moved to Lafayette from Houston, Texas, almost a decade ago, their goal was simple: to be closer to their son and growing family of grandchildren. Both were retired. Charles was the former president and CEO of a company that manufactured dehumidifiers, while Jan had worked in communications for a local museum. The couple could have settled into a slower pace, enjoying a life of leisure and family. |
But then Jan got into gardening. She helped create a medicinal garden inside the Vermilionville park attraction, overlooking the river. The couple also lived in Oakbourne, a neighborhood not far from the Vermilion. What they saw each day, as they drove to and from their home, troubled them. A dirty, brown body of water, that on any given day could yield tons of floating trash and debris, hiding the natural beauty of the 70-mile waterway.
“We saw a bunch of trash floating,” Charles said. “Enough small garbage was pulled from the river in Lafayette Parish to fill 1,100 55-gallon drums during clean-up efforts last year. Besides that, there were also stoves, microwaves, refrigerators and cars.”
Instead of just fretting about the problem, the couple decided to take action.They started by talking to the Master Gardeners group and the Garden Club and wrote up a proposal to preserve the local aquatic ecosystem. Charles said that proposal won first place in a national competition and that provided the seed money for the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association.
The Wyatts said they helped start the BVPA because they have always been concerned about water preservation. Back in Houston, they volunteered with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, a nonprofit organization revitalizing and transforming Buffalo Bayou, one of Houston’s most significant natural resources.
“We’re attracted to water,” Jan said. “The ocean and lakes, it’s calming to me.”
Since its inception, the BVPA has grown to include a full board of directors, an advisory board and hundreds of members.
The mission of the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association, Inc., a nonprofit association, is to create awareness of the area’s natural environment by providing education and outreach to the general community about ways to conserve, protect and enjoy the Bayou Vermilion Watershed.
These days, the Wyatts spend countless hours working on numerous projects to accomplish just that.
Including:
•Helping to form an alliance that spans four parishes to publicize challenges facing the Vermilion River and to explore ways to clean it up.
•Developing a map of access points for boaters.
•Erecting mileage markers on all 75 miles of the river to assist recreational boaters, as well as those conducting environmental research and others marking significant historical sites.
•Taking water samples from the river in four parishes to incorporate into a database for use in research.
•Organizing and conducting symposiums based on educating and informing the public about the plight of the Vermilion.
The couple are also focused on better ways to use what little funds are dedicated to keeping the river clean. The Wyatts point to the property tax millage for the Bayou Vermilion District that goes towards cleaning up the trash.
About 75 percent of those revenues are dedicated to that task. But they say, that is money that could be better spent.
“That money could be spent on projects such as placing riparian plants on bare spots along the river to help ease the problem of bank erosion,” Jan said. “And that would make the water of the Vermilion less muddy and more pleasing to the eye.”
While it may seem like a full time job, for the Wyatts, this second act of their lives is worth whatever time it takes.
“This (polluted) image is not the one we want tourists who come to town to soak up local culture to take home with them,” Charles said. “Nor is it the one we want our children and grandchildren to grow up with.”
The Wyatts said the condition of the river has improved immensely since they started the BVPA, thanks to numerous cooperative efforts by the Bayou Vermilion District, Lafayette Consolidated Government, and the Vermilion River Alliance, which brings together leaders from Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Landry and Vermilion parishes.
Some might wonder why the couple, who are not originally from the Acadiana area, care so much about a body of water that currently is known for how dirty it is, rather than its recreational or utilitarian value.
Charles said the answer is simple.
“We are just trying to leave the campsite a little bit better than when we got here.’
The Bayou Vermilion Preservation Alliance is currently holding a membership drive for those interested in helping preserve the Vermilion.
For more information visit http://www.bayouvermilionpreservation.org
“We saw a bunch of trash floating,” Charles said. “Enough small garbage was pulled from the river in Lafayette Parish to fill 1,100 55-gallon drums during clean-up efforts last year. Besides that, there were also stoves, microwaves, refrigerators and cars.”
Instead of just fretting about the problem, the couple decided to take action.They started by talking to the Master Gardeners group and the Garden Club and wrote up a proposal to preserve the local aquatic ecosystem. Charles said that proposal won first place in a national competition and that provided the seed money for the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association.
The Wyatts said they helped start the BVPA because they have always been concerned about water preservation. Back in Houston, they volunteered with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, a nonprofit organization revitalizing and transforming Buffalo Bayou, one of Houston’s most significant natural resources.
“We’re attracted to water,” Jan said. “The ocean and lakes, it’s calming to me.”
Since its inception, the BVPA has grown to include a full board of directors, an advisory board and hundreds of members.
The mission of the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association, Inc., a nonprofit association, is to create awareness of the area’s natural environment by providing education and outreach to the general community about ways to conserve, protect and enjoy the Bayou Vermilion Watershed.
These days, the Wyatts spend countless hours working on numerous projects to accomplish just that.
Including:
•Helping to form an alliance that spans four parishes to publicize challenges facing the Vermilion River and to explore ways to clean it up.
•Developing a map of access points for boaters.
•Erecting mileage markers on all 75 miles of the river to assist recreational boaters, as well as those conducting environmental research and others marking significant historical sites.
•Taking water samples from the river in four parishes to incorporate into a database for use in research.
•Organizing and conducting symposiums based on educating and informing the public about the plight of the Vermilion.
The couple are also focused on better ways to use what little funds are dedicated to keeping the river clean. The Wyatts point to the property tax millage for the Bayou Vermilion District that goes towards cleaning up the trash.
About 75 percent of those revenues are dedicated to that task. But they say, that is money that could be better spent.
“That money could be spent on projects such as placing riparian plants on bare spots along the river to help ease the problem of bank erosion,” Jan said. “And that would make the water of the Vermilion less muddy and more pleasing to the eye.”
While it may seem like a full time job, for the Wyatts, this second act of their lives is worth whatever time it takes.
“This (polluted) image is not the one we want tourists who come to town to soak up local culture to take home with them,” Charles said. “Nor is it the one we want our children and grandchildren to grow up with.”
The Wyatts said the condition of the river has improved immensely since they started the BVPA, thanks to numerous cooperative efforts by the Bayou Vermilion District, Lafayette Consolidated Government, and the Vermilion River Alliance, which brings together leaders from Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Landry and Vermilion parishes.
Some might wonder why the couple, who are not originally from the Acadiana area, care so much about a body of water that currently is known for how dirty it is, rather than its recreational or utilitarian value.
Charles said the answer is simple.
“We are just trying to leave the campsite a little bit better than when we got here.’
The Bayou Vermilion Preservation Alliance is currently holding a membership drive for those interested in helping preserve the Vermilion.
For more information visit http://www.bayouvermilionpreservation.org
Cassie Alexander, Jr., Public Works Director for St. Martin Parish and a member of the newly formed Vermilion River Alliance was laid to rest this morning at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. Breaux Bridge, with an Obituary Reading by his friends former Lieutenant Governor Scott Angelle and St. Martin Parish President, Guy Cormier. He will be greatly missed.
Make sure you check the list of which items are accepted and which aren't, so there's no confusion on collection day. Show up at Cajun Field between 8 and noon, and enter through Gate 4 (on Congress St. closest to Bertrand Dr.) You must be a Lafayette city or unincorporated parish resident in order to bring your household chemicals.
Tour de Teche V
Clean Streams
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
10:30 a.m.
Vermilionville, Lafayette
RESERVATIONS
Program:
Louisiana Master Farmer Program:
An Opportunity to Demonstrate Conservation Stewardship
The presentation, by LSU AgCenter Louisiana Master Farmer Coordinator, Dr. Ernest Girouard, will share information about how farmers in the program are protecting all the natural resources (soil, water, animals, plants, people and air). Their efforts are to reduce nutrients and sediment from reaching the streams - a valuable part of accomplishing the same goal as the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association.
About Dr. Ernest Girouard
10:30 a.m.
Vermilionville, Lafayette
RESERVATIONS
Program:
Louisiana Master Farmer Program:
An Opportunity to Demonstrate Conservation Stewardship
The presentation, by LSU AgCenter Louisiana Master Farmer Coordinator, Dr. Ernest Girouard, will share information about how farmers in the program are protecting all the natural resources (soil, water, animals, plants, people and air). Their efforts are to reduce nutrients and sediment from reaching the streams - a valuable part of accomplishing the same goal as the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association.
About Dr. Ernest Girouard
About Dana Brown
Dana Brown is recognized in the Gulf South as an expert in water management, green infrastructure, and Low Impact Development.
Maggie H. Richardson of the Baton Rouge Business Report writes: “Too often, Brown says, landscape architects are asked to arrive at a project’s conclusion, only to install plantings. Instead, she wants designers to integrate a great plan with existing factors at the front end, which would ensure a healthier synthesis with transportation systems, infrastructure, natural habitats, floodplains and more.
Richardson continues: “The fusion of science and design is what motivates Brown. A practitioner of geographical informational systems in their earliest forms, she studied the technique of mapping and overlaying data at Harvard University under the field’s first experts. Subsequently, she worked in design in Orange County, Calif., which satisfied what she calls her ‘need to grow more.’”
LSU Press adds: “In this guidebook, Plants for Stormwater Management, A Green Infrastructure Guide for the Gulf South, Dana Nunez Brown details ways to manage each drop of rainwater where it falls, using a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive approach”
Maggie H. Richardson of the Baton Rouge Business Report writes: “Too often, Brown says, landscape architects are asked to arrive at a project’s conclusion, only to install plantings. Instead, she wants designers to integrate a great plan with existing factors at the front end, which would ensure a healthier synthesis with transportation systems, infrastructure, natural habitats, floodplains and more.
Richardson continues: “The fusion of science and design is what motivates Brown. A practitioner of geographical informational systems in their earliest forms, she studied the technique of mapping and overlaying data at Harvard University under the field’s first experts. Subsequently, she worked in design in Orange County, Calif., which satisfied what she calls her ‘need to grow more.’”
LSU Press adds: “In this guidebook, Plants for Stormwater Management, A Green Infrastructure Guide for the Gulf South, Dana Nunez Brown details ways to manage each drop of rainwater where it falls, using a cost-effective and environmentally sensitive approach”
