FAQs

What is the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association (BVPA)?

The Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association (BVPA) is a 501(c)3 tax exempt non-profit conservation organization based in Lafayette, Louisiana. The mission of the BVPA is to create awareness of our natural environment by providing education and outreach to the community in Acadiana and the greater region about ways to conserve, protect and enjoy the Bayou Vermilion Watershed.

History/How did we get started?

BVPA, headed by the late Charles and Jan Wyatt, was formed in 2013 by members of the Lafayette Garden Club who were seeking a special project that would focus on protecting aquatic ecosystems within our watershed. The 1st Annual River Symposium was held in May of 2014 which included tours of the Vermilion River, and speakers from ULL’s Geosciences Dept., LDEQ, LDWF, LCG Envr. Quality Dept., TVFWD, and more. The BVPA continued to host scientific lecture series, hosting tours of the watershed, and involving multiple stakeholders throughout the area including local governments, other conservation groups, and ordinary citizens. Bi-weekly water testing began in the summer of 2014 and continues today. In October of 2014 BVPA partnered with CGI group to create an interactive GIS based map of the Vermilion River and its paddle trail. Over a decade later, board members continue to host annual events that started over a decade ago and work to educate the community about ways to conserve, protect and enjoy the Bayou Vermilion Watershed.

What do we do?

With the help of its partners in preservation across the Teche Vermilion Watershed, BVPA offers volunteer opportunities, sponsors, plans and/or hosts conservation and educational events, native plantings and litter pick-ups, engages with the watershed community through social media and our website, and carries out special projects like the Beaver Park Embrace the Space project as well as a water quality program.

BVPA excels at offering the public volunteer opportunities to help them improve our community including:

• Family friendly tree plantings and native plantings along the river bank

• Maintenance of planting projects

• Litter pick ups

• Participating in and promoting community-wide litter pick up events

• In 2019, BVPA adopted Beaver Park in Lafayette and has been working to revitalize the space with quarterly clean ups, plantings, beautification activities and a bankline stabilization projects with help from RES.

BVPA supports multiple local conservation efforts and eco-art events thought our relationships with other like minded non-profit and government organizations:

• LUS/LCG Rain Barrel Discount Event

• Rain Barrel Art Contest for area schools

• LCG’s Storm Drain Art Contest

• Anti-Litter Poster Contest

• Cleanest School Contest

• LDEQ Envirothon

With resources acquired from our awesome sponsors and grant awards as well as our partnerships with our partners in preservation, BVPA has been able to plan, organize and host special projects including:

• Teche-Vermilion Watershed: Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring program

• Interactive paddle trail

• Reviving Resilient Landscapes Project

• Tree plantings in public spaces

BVPA has planned hosted and/or participated in recurring events such as:

• Annual River Symposium

• Annual State of the River Meeting

• Quarterly Vermilion River Alliance Meeting

• UL Lafayette Big Event

• UL Lafayette Soul Camp

• Earth Day at Vermilionville

• UL Lafayette Fete de la Terre Earth Day Celebration

• Halloween at Moncus Park

• Bayou Vermilion District’s Boat Parade

• Arbor Day Tree Planting

• Southern Garden Festival - Shuffler’s Fundraiser

How to Join/Get involved?

You can get involved with BVPA by attending events, volunteering at clean up and restoration events, donating, joining the board, and by staying involved. You can keep up to date with us by signing up for the newsletters, following our social medias, and filling out the Join Us form to tell us exactly what you are interested in getting involved in.

If you would like to sit in on a board meeting to see what BVPA is all about we welcome you to do so! Just email us at bvpaconnect@gmail.com to inquire about the details of or next monthly board meeting. We encourage all prospective board members to sit in on a meeting to see what our board does to help preserve our beautiful Bayou Vermilion.

Education?

The BVPA’s mission is to spread education about the Bayou Vermilion and other related topics. The board of the BVPA is made up of educators and various professionals with a passion to educate our community and future generations on the vital role the Vermilion and all watersheds play in our environment and ecosystem as a whole.

BVPA events strive to educate our community in fun, multifaceted, and engaging ways. We recently acquired an Enviroscape Watershed/Nonpoint Source Model which demonstrates how a watershed works in a way that all ages can enjoy. All events held by the BVPA have educational components.

Annual Events?

The BVPA has a two core annual events that we put on every year which all aim to discuss relevant topics surrounding the Vermilion. The two large events are:

River Symposium

Each year, the members of our Symposium Committee and Honorary Chairs plan a River Symposium focused on community, surface water quality, and watershed dynamics. ​Thanks to our sponsors and volunteers, we have been able to publish educational programs, bring in experts from around the U.S., and put relevant programming in motion throughout the Teche-Vermilion Watershed.

State of the River

The State of the River is hosted annually by the BVPA organized by the Board of the BVPA, inviting guests to attend a night full of education, food, drinks, and networking to celebrate the work our community has done for our loved Bayou Vermilion.

Additionally, each quarter the BVPA hosts the Vermilion River Alliance Meetings and Cleanups at Beaver Park for Embrace This Space events.

What is the Teche-Vermilion Watershed Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring Program?

This Water Quality Testing program is administered by an inter-governmental sampling team, including the Teche-Vermilion Fresh Water District (TVFWD), LCG and BVD, who have all elected to continue sampling indefinitely. 

The Teche-Vermilion Watershed Long-Term Water Quality Monitoring Program was started in 2014 with the goal of establishing baseline water quality data for the Teche-Vermilion Watershed. The BVPA formed a Technical Committee of dedicated water quality stakeholders and experts who wanted to document and understand the health of our watershed. This resulted in the development of a water quality monitoring program, where data collection and analysis provide real-time insight on regional waterways and how our community can use them.

What sites are measured in the Water Quality Testing Program?

The monitoring program started with nine sites and has since expanded to 25, which extend from the headwaters of the Teche-Vermilion down to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Sites were selected for accessibility while still representing the watershed tributaries, and parameters were based on water quality needs and impairments while not being overly burdensome on the part of the collector or the lab. Samples are collected by boat, sample ramps, and/or at bridges. 

In addition to date and time, the team records 6-meter reading parameters, 5 observations, take photos at each site and deliver the samples to an accredited lab for analysis for 6 additional parameters.  

What is the Water Quality Testing Program evaluating?

Site conditions are noted at each sampling location: 

• Previous rain events

• If the TVFWD station is pumping

• Flow

• Secchi disk reading

• Sampling depth

• Weather conditions

• Trash present in water

• Dead fish or other unusual conditions 

Parameters collected in the field at each sampling location, using a YSI meter: 

• ​pH

• Dissolved oxygen % and mg/L

• Water temperature (Celsius)

• Conductivity

• Total dissolved solids g/L 

Four sites conduct lab analyses for the following parameters: 

• Total suspended solids

• Total Nitrogen

• Total Phosphorus

For more details about the projects, programs, initiatives, and annual events please visit our Projects and Events tabs in the top bar.