Parish recognized for support of Bayou Teche paddle trail designation

St. Landry Parish’s government was thanked for its support of Bayou Teche being named into the National Water Trails system in January.
Dane Thibodeaux of The TECHE (Teche, Ecology, Culture, History and Education) Project presented Parish President Bill Fontenot and the Parish Council with a certificate and map noting the designation by the National Park System.
The presentation was made during Wednesday’s Parish Council meeting in Opelousas.
“Think about all the waterways there are in this beautiful country,” Thibodeaux said. “Pick 18 of them and Bayou Teche is one of them. It is a very big honor. It is a great designation. With that designation we have national press.”
The 135-mile long Bayou Teche Paddle Trail winds through four parishes and 13 towns — from Port Barre to Berwick — along a historically and culturally significant bayou. The trail promotes the natural beauty of south Louisiana and integrates the history of the people and the land while providing access for paddlers of all abilities, said a story in the Morgan City Daily Review announcing the designation earlier this year.
Thibodeaux said, “We are a local non-profit that started off by picking up trash. We are housed here in St. Landry Parish in Arnaudville.”
The group has picked up more than 50 tons of garbage from Bayou Teche with volunteer time alone with support form local municipalities and local government, Thibodeaux said.
“Tonight, I wanted to come and congratulate each and everyone of you ... on the designation of Bayou Teche as a National Water Trail,” he said. “It took about a two-year process to get the Bayou Teche designated as a National Water Trail under the National Water Trail System, which is under the Department of Interior. This is a non-regulatory designation meaning it is just a name.”
Thibodeaux said the designation created interest nationally and internationally for the Bayou Teche.
Fontenot said, “It opens up a vision for the future to where we are going and to enjoy our natural resources and to know we have been blessed to be able to live in this area, and we have people like you and your organization spending thousands of hours with no pay to get us this designation.”
The designation is worth “thousand and thousands of dollars” in marketing, Fontenot said.
“Now people from all over the world are coming here to enjoy our resources.”
The bayou was selected after “a pretty intensive” application process that Project TECHE initiated on behalf of the communities served by the waterway, Conni Castille, project executive director, said after the designation was announced.
She hopes the designation will become an “economic driver for low-impact recreation,” and help businesses along its path who will serve locals and tourists alike when they experience the bayous.
“It’s a prestigious recognition. A lot of people pay attention to that,” she said. Eco-tourists view the designation by the government as a guide to experiencing the United States by water, Castille added.