Littering Our Playground

story and photography by Susan Owens

I’m taking the risk of sounding like an old timer. You know the kind I mean. The ones who look backward, sigh deeply, and repeat the age-old refrain, “Things just aren’t like they used to be.” And every time they bemoan the changing times, they are right—of course, things are not the same.

One of those ever-changing icons is our locally beloved Tchefuncte River. Earlier this year, my husband and I spent a little quality time on Tugly, our newly primped-up Nordic Tug. Along for the ride were fellow boaters, Chris and Steve Hightower, who are not new to boats, but are new to boating on the Tchefuncte. They had experienced the river and the area mostly from the road.
We were eager to introduce them to all of the scenic vistas and fun restaurants that can be experienced via the river. Proudly, we announced that the Tchefuncte is a perfect cruising river. The northshore’s premiere waterway is the gateway to Lake Pontchartrain, the Gulf of Mexico and thus to the entire wet world.

The late winter afternoon had turned just a little balmy, a perfect day to cruise. The river was almost ours alone, in serene contrast to the more frantic river activity churned up by the Mardi Gras boaters just weeks earlier. For a few days, brisk north winds had been emptying the river into the lake. And the lake water had gone a little south, too.

We passed, at no-wake speed, Fairview-Riverside State Park wedged between Highway 22 and the river. Right next to the park’s new pier, suitable for strolling, fishing and watching the river, are relics dating back to the time when the town of Madisonville was the thriving epicenter of commerce in the area.

When the water in the river drops a few feet, those historical artifacts arise from their watery graves and wink at us from the muddy banks of the river. That day they were damp reminders of a time many years ago when farmers, cattle drivers and lumbermen used the long-gone docks as a terminus to unload nature’s bounty from the northshore onto schooners and barges bound for New Orleans.

Those ribs of forgotten schooners, old railroad bridges and barges that appeared like snaggle-tooth smiles poking through the surface of the water are now ancient enough to be considered nostalgic, adding to the romance of the river.

But the honeymoon stops there. In recent times, as each month passes, the banks of the Tchefuncte have become increasingly more littered with listing and abandoned boats filling up with water. For those vessels, the promise of fun-filled days sailing across the lake and down the river is over. Done. Kaput. So the boats lie abandoned in the weeds, taking on big gulps of river water.

And what about those houseboats tied to trees along the river’s edge? Well, first of all, they are not exactly houseboats. Floating shacks more aptly describes the shanties that have been imported from parts unknown and left to rot and decay along the riverbank. The tired little shacks clutter the natural landscape. And, now, the river and its environs, once quaint and funky, have become a little junky.

Unlike the regular boaters in the area, most of the local earth dwellers do not really have to witness the ever-increasing accumulation of flotsam and jetsam languishing around the bends in the river just north and south of the Madisonville bridge. In plain view of boaters and landlubbers alike, however, is the granddaddy of them all, that big old hulk rusting away in the noonday sun at the Madisonville boat launch where the river meets Lake Pontchartrain. What is it?

That rusty bucket is a constant eyesore for local fishermen and recreational boaters. Its forlorn silhouette assaults the landscape and mars the view of the lake where people gather to fish, to launch their boats or just to enjoy the ever-changing panorama of sky and water at the far end of Main Street, Madisonville. For years and years, the abandoned ship has been settling inch by inch into the landscape, a monument to the audacity of the owners who would dump that huge wreck of a boat on the pristine shores of our scenic river and lake and leave it forever.

Now, don’t get me wrong. Not everything is bedraggled along the Tchefuncte. We passed gracious homes surrounded by lush grassy lawns. Majestic stands of cypress trees still snake along the edge of the water. The river laps at the perimeter of manicured golf course fairways and busy marinas. Presently, St. Tammany enjoys the status of being one of the most prosperous parishes in the region, with the Tchefuncte River the parish’s most outstanding natural asset.

There is always the hope that the successes of the St. Tammany Parish Litter Abatement Program will spill over into the river. (With an eye to the future, the St. Tammany Parish Government outlined their Strategic Initiatives for the year 2006. Initiative # 5 says, “Condemn and remove abandoned structures.” Additionally, the Litter Abatement Program has passed into law an ordinance establishing strict civil and criminal penalties for littering. That ordinance created a local Litter Court to help our Constables and Justices of the Peace bring those found guilty of the crime of littering to justice.)

Sounds like a plan to me.

Author’s invitation: For an up-close-and-personal look at the State of the River 2007, my husband, Bob, and I invite concerned St. Tammany Parish public officials to join us for an eye-opening and fun-filled Tchefuncte River cruise aboard Tugly. Please contact us at Tugly@I-55.com.