Volunteers from the Kiwanis Club of Breaux Bridge and Cajuns for Bayou Teche pull unsightly and dangerous debris from the bayou. In the background, the St. Michael, Cajuns’ “garbage scow,” stands by to take on the heavy stuff. Individuals and groups like the Lafayette Paddle Club are stepping up to help restore the historic waterway's natural beauty and vitality.
t_news@bellsouth.net
Cecilia – Volunteers with or without boats are needed to help clean up Bayou Teche between the Cecilia Bridge and Poche Bridge this Saturday.
Folks with motor boats are needed to haul the heavy stuff and those with canoes and kayaks are needed to get in close to the brushy banks to pick out the trash that winds up in there. No boat? No problem. We need all hands on deck.
This is still just the beginning. The work taken on by the Kiwanis Club of Pont Breaux and by Blake Couvillion and his Cajuns for Bayou Teche within the Keep St. Martin Beautiful program is spreading. The section of Bayou Teche from the bridge in Cecilia south toward Poche Bridge has been adopted by Shane Seneca Welding & Fabrication.
The parishes and communities along Bayou Teche are going to host a world class canoe and kayak race in mid-October. Naturally, we don’t want those folks going back to Texas and Michigan and Australia thinking they’ve been to the Tobacco Road of waterways.
Seneca, in conjunction with Cajuns for Bayou Teche, is coordinating this public clean-up Saturday, March 27, with the launch point from his own back yard at 2085 Highway 31, Arnaudville. Boats will be able to launch from his backyard, the optimum access point to his adopted area, it was determined this is the optimum launch point. Gumbo will be served to volunteers and those who attend to cheer them on.
Trash bags and hand trash pickers will also be provided by Keep St. Martin Beautiful.
“St. Martin Parish Government and Keep St. Martin Beautiful applaud Mr. Shane Seneca for his dedication to our environment,” said Jacques Privat, director of Keep St. Martin Beautiful.
“We are encouraged and excited that he and so many more people are joining this fight to clean up our parish. Any person, family, neighborhood, business, club, church or other organization can adopt a remaining portion of the Bayou Teche, a road or other area in the parish by calling 442-1016.”
Cajuns for Bayou Teche will be on the bayou with their garbage scow, the St. Michael, to handle the heavy stuff.
“We are happy to have Mr. Shane Seneca join our efforts to restore Bayou Teche,: said Cajun’s Couvillion.
“He is a great welder and a valuable asset to our project. Mr. Seneca’s area connects two other adopted stretches of bayou to form an unbroken chain of adopted waterway. We hope others will take interest in our project and volunteer to adopt an area as Mr. Sencea has done.”
The cleanup is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
More clean-up dates set by Cajuns for Bayou Teche include May 8 in Port Barre and Sept. 25 in Breaux Bridge.
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