Blue Dog Nights

Ok, so we load up the gear, get the boat in the water, get the trailer tucked away, and off we go. Still I have no idea where exactly we are off too. BW whips out her cell phone and lets the folks at our destination know that we are on our way, hangs up, looks at me with this little grin and says “We’re going to the last surviving cypress swamp and meeting up with the swamp dwellers.” Actually, I’m not a hundred percent sure that’s exactly what she said because my heart leapt and my head went dizzy with “surviving cypress” and “swamp dwellers”.

I will confess that for a split second I did get a little nervous. I mean, “swamp dwellers”, geez, that kind of terminology in the brain of a Yankee just conjures up scenes from Deliverance if you know what I’m mean Vern. But then I was like, wait, they’ve got cell phones. Why having a cell phone automatically means you’re not a psychopath waiting in the swamp to kill me and feed me to the gators, I don’t know. But it works for me. Plus, I trust BW and I don’t think she’s in the Yankee trafficking business or anything.

So anyway, as we cruised along Lake DeCade, BW pointed out how the local landowning company in the area has been fortifying the bank of the lake to try to prevent erosion. And for the most part, it appears to be working except for this area where there has been a breach.

This is just one small area, but you can see how rapidly the marsh behind the breach has become water. It shows, however, how quickly and relatively inexpensively protection can be established by private interests. BW informed me that the land company reinforces the entire shoreline of the lake each year in a time span of about 6 weeks. Most government entities who shall remain nameless can’t even decide whether or not they should make a decision about doing a study in that time span.

Sorry, getting off track. Seriously, this heat is frying my brain. Where is the ice cream man when you need him? Has anyone started on that petition yet?

OK, so BW slows the boat and turns in to this canal…

and tells me that the ridge in the background is known as the Mauvais Bois, which translated means something like “bad woods.” This is the last living cypress swamp in our area. Notice all the water hyacinth along the banks of the canal. Water hyacinth is an invasive species in south Louisiana and can basically double it’s population in a span of two weeks. It’s really nasty stuff and can quickly take over an area, impact water flow, block sunlight from getting to various aquatic plants, and starve the water of oxygen. BW tells me that it made it’s way to Louisiana via the 1884 Cotton Exposition held in New Orleans. Apparently the Japanese delegation distributed plants that they had imported from Venezuela and it quickly became popular as an ornamental plant in ponds and such. The rest is history. The picture below that I took today on Bayou Petit Caillou near the Bayou Grace office is a good example of how quickly water hyacinth takes over. Just a few weeks ago, there were only a handful of plants along the banks of the bayou.

But I digress. Back to the story. But, seriously, does anyone have a big tub of ice or something I can lie in whie I write this? I’m not even going to torture myself and see what the “feels like” temperature is according to weather.com.

Nope, I lied. I just checked. Apparently it is 89 degrees with a “feels like” temperature of, are you ready, get this, 105! I know you think I’m exaggerating. But I only wish that were true. Here’s proof.

OK, so really, back to the story. BW tells me that much of the marsh in this area is known as flottant. Flottant, as you may have guessed from the name, is a kind of floating marsh. I think it’s generally made up of Maiden Cane (but maybe BW can correct me on this bit of trivia.) As I was l to later learn from one of the Swamp Dwellers, if you’re a small person like he is, you shouldn’t have too much trouble walking across it. But if you happen to be a little on the bulkier side, you’d better watch your step or you’ll be on your way to China.

As we crept farther down the canal, we began to see these big, beautiful cypress trees…

and BW explained that the cypress knees we saw are actually like a big protection system for the trees by anchoring them in the soft muddy soil.

I am so thrilled to see this because most of the cypress trees I’ve encountered in my travels around the 5 bayous look like these, killed by saltwater intrusion.

Then we round a bend in the canal and I get my first glimpse of the Swamp Dwellers…

Tune in tomorrow for Part 3. I’m heading to the gym to sit in the industrial-sized ice maker for a while. But in the meantime for your viewing pleasure…