Bayou Manchac Paddle with Trash Sweep

Bayou Manchac Trash Sweep will actually be in Bayou Fountain on April 19th from 9am to 3pm.  You can participate for as long or as little as you'd like, but let us know asap at info@bayoumanchac.com if you'll need a loaner canoe or if you have an extra you can bring.

The paddle launch site is at Highland Rd Park, behind the archery range (same side of the road as the Observatory).  If you have a small motor boat and can help ferry collected trash, be sure to contact us at info@bayoumanchac.com for directions to the nearest boat launch.

Once in the water, we'll go upstream as far as Bluebonnet Swamp, then clean downstream for 3.5 miles to Bayou Manchac.  Along the way, you'll be able to see the 2000 year old Indian Mounds at the back of Country Club of Louisiana (See page 5 here for info on the Indian Mounds http://www.laarchaeology.org/newsletters/1985%20No.%203.pdf).  The bayou is gorgeous this time of year, so don't forget your camera.  For an idea of the hundreds of bird species utilizing this swamp system visit http://www.braudubon.org/bluebonnet-swamp-bird-monitoring.php.  The numerous otters are typically only seen at dawn and late afternoon, but being curious creatures, they may make a quick appearance to see what's going on.  The Florida Manatee spotted in early October is long gone.  They migrate here in later summer and return to Florida before the weather turns cold.

With no litter controls and street drainage that flushes directly to waterways, Baton Rouge is the single largest contributor of trash into the Lake Pontchartrain Basin and quite possibly the entire northern Gulf of Mexico.  Trash we clean out of Baton Rouge's Bayou Fountain is trash that won't show up later in Bayou Manchac, the Amite River, the Diversion Canal, Lake Maurepas, Pass Manchac, Lake Pontchartrain, and the Gulf.