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Greetings Bayou Vermilion Watershed Community,
I hope that this newsletter finds you all well and thriving. The past few years have challenged us all in so many ways. For me personally and professionally, I’ve chosen to view this time as an opportunity. An opportunity for great self reflection and growth, an opportunity to reconsider and improve upon outdated ways of being and doing things, and most importantly an opportunity to slow down and reconnect with the people and places most dear to me. As I write this letter to you, I feel grateful for these lessons and the incredible people who have persevered through the pandemic and continued to find ways to make impactful change in our community. It is with great pride that I am able to include the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association in this esteemed group. Even through great hardship and change, BVPA has continued to find and create new and old opportunities to promote its mission through a variety of watershed-wide projects and education and outreach initiatives involving many of our partners in preservation. I am especially thrilled to be sharing with you our very first edition of the BVPA newsletter, a quarterly bulletin to keep our membership informed of the special projects and education and outreach initiatives in which we are involved, as well as opportunities for the community to join us in conserving, protecting and enjoying the Bayou Vermillion Watershed. Additionally, I am excited to share with you that we will finally be hosting our 7th Annual River Symposium later this month, after a very long 2 year hiatus due to the pandemic. This year’s symposium is entitled “Innovation on the Bayou: Harnessing New Ideas for Watershed Improvement”, and we have a fantastic line-up of innovators in our community and across the state who will be presenting on, you guessed it, innovative watershed ideas. We are so grateful to our invited speakers, sponsors and you, the members, for standing by us as we navigated such challenging times. Please enjoy this first edition complementary newsletter, and I look forward to visiting with you about your connection to the bayou at one of our many upcoming events.
Jump on Board,
-Amber Robinson, BVPA President
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Presentations and a panel discussion on Watershed Sustainability & Resiliency Through Innovation
Innovative data collection and analysis of watershed conditions can highlight problems, identify potential, and inform policy decisions. Join us for presentations and a panel discussion to learn more about sustainability and resiliency through innovation in the Teche-Vermilion Watershed.
This one-day educational event will be held from 8 a.m. — 2 p.m. at the LITE Center Check-in and light breakfast at 7:30 AM. Box lunch will be provided. We will be raffling off two rain barrels and a t-shirt.
Food by La Cuisine de Maman. Vegetarian options are available. Please email us at BVPAconnect@gmail.com to reserve a vegetarian lunch.
Symposium Agenda
Doors open for coffee and light breakfast at 7:30
Gavel to order at 8:05
Programming until lunch at 12:15
Panel discussion 1-2
Cost: $27 includes BVPA membership & lunch (student cost $5)
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SPONSORED PROJECTS AND EVENTS
Your contribution helps BVPA meet our mission to
create awareness of our natural environment by providing education and outreach to the general community about ways to conserve, protect and enjoy the Bayou Vermilion Watershed.
Some of the BVPA sponsored projects and events that your
donation helps support include:
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Arbor Day at Southside Regional Park
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Arbor Day
BVPA celebrated Louisiana's Arbor Day (3rd Saturday in January) with another successful fun filled day of educational games, DIY bird feeders, face painting, animal encounters, free native plants to volunteers, music and planting lots and lots of TREES! Over 70 community members joined us and our Partners in Preservation with planting more than 87 native trees and shrubs - including Parsley Hawthorn, Swamp Titi, and Pond Cypress along and around the Southside Regional Park's pond bank line. These trees will thrive in our climate and provide shade for fishing, habitat for wildlife and prevent bank line erosion. A HUGE THANK YOU to all the families, volunteers, vendors, and Partners in Preservation that came out to make our 2nd Annual Arbor Day Celebration fun and successful. A special thanks to the Apache Corporation for awarding us the grant for the trees, to Lafayette Utilities System for sponsoring the event in honor of their 125 anniversary, and to Acadiana Native Plant project and members for providing education, plants and music. "He who plants a tree, plants hope!"
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Moore Park Pond Tree Planting
BVPA was awarded an Apache Corporation Tree grant for 2022, with a goal of planting over 200 trees in the Vermilion-Teche watershed. We planted approximately 60 trees at Moore Park Pond (200 Block of Couret Drive) on Saturday, March 5th from 9am - 12pm. We had a great team of volunteers and board members that showed up ready for the task!
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Once a month Tiffany Saltzman, CPT, MS. hosts a free 45 minute fresh air HIIT style fitness class along the banks of the Vermilion River called Bootcamp on the Bayou. Bootcamp on the Bayou takes place at different locations along the Vermilion River at the end of each month. All you need to bring to the class is yourself and a mat. This class is donation based and proceeds benefit the Bayou Vermilion Preservation Association. (you can sign up on the BVPA website)
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Upcoming Boot Camp on the Bayou and Tree Planting Event
March 26th at Beaver Park Pond
8:00 am Bootcamp on the Bayou with Tiffany Saltzman
9:00 - 12:00 Tree Planting and Litter Pickup
Additional trees from the Apache Corporation Tree grant for 2022 will be planted with the help of community volunteers. Following our 7th Annual River Symposium on March 26th at Beaver Park Pond located near the Beaver Park boat launch we will host another tree planting. Grab a shovel, some gloves and a friend and join us in reviving the resilience of local ecosystems. Native trees provide so many benefits to our everyday lives. They filter clean air, provide fresh drinking water, help curb climate change, and create homes for thousands of species of plants and animals. Some of the spotlight species include water loving trees like the Water Tupelo (Nyssa aquatica), the beautiful fall foliage of Red Maple (Acer rubrum), and the interesting flowers of Swamp Titi (Cyrilla racemiflora), Buttonbush (Cephalanthus accidentalis), Turks Cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii) and Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica). Bring the family to enjoy a morning of giving back to our environment and providing an experience that your children and children's children can return to the spot and enjoy for decades to come!
Water will be provided. Please bring your own refillable water bottle.
Register to volunteer for tree planting here.
Register for Boot Camp on the Bayou on our website.
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Turks Cap
Malvaviscus arboreus var. drummondii
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Red Maple
Acer rubrum
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Other Opportunities Along The Bayou
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May 6-7, 2022
3502 E. Simcoe | Harold & Sarah Schoeffler Gardens (near Oakbourne Country Club)
Join us in the gardens for dinner & live music on Friday night, followed by Saturday’s full slate of outdoor activities. All proceeds benefit Family Promise of Acadiana to support our mission of helping families experiencing homelessness become independent.
May 6, 6–9 p.m., Dining Under the Stars
$75/person, $100/couple; includes entry to Saturday activities. Call 337-233-3447 for reservations and additional information.
- Enjoy a delicious buffet meal, featuring locally-sourced ingredients.
- Live music from Nouveau String Band.
- Silent auction with great items up for bid. Cash, credit cards and debit cards accepted.
- Your ticket includes entry to Saturday’s events.
May 7, 9 a.m.–3 p.m., Southern Garden Festival
$10/person at the Garden Gate. Children 12 and under admitted free. Enjoy a variety of activities for all ages in these beautiful riverside gardens.
Artists, garden tours, live music in the gardens, bayou boat tours, gardening and nature presentations, educational exhibits, garden fairies, refreshments in the Garden Room, children’s scavenger hunt and more.
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AND MORE...
We also promote Water Recreation, Conservation, and Natural Resource Preservation with multiple area non-profit partners and municipalities, in addition to the Annual State of the River Meeting.
Check out more at our website: http://www.bayouvermilionpreservation.org/
Please let me know if you have any questions about membership renewal by emailing: BVPAConnect@gmail.com
If you do not wish to receive this newsletter in the future please use the unsubscribe link below.
Thanks!
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