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When state and local officials gathered Wednesday to cut a ribbon for the Yokely Levee extension project, they celebrated the plugging of a gap in the west St. Mary flood control system.

The $2 million project was funded with money generated by the federal Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act and administered by the state.

Not only does it fill that gap, but it eliminates some inefficiency in the flood control system, said Tim Matte, director of the St. Mary Parish Levee District.

Here, according to the district's website, is what the extension project was about:

"The Yokely extension connects to the end of the federal Yokely levee and extends to high ground following the Charenton Canal going north.

"The flood protection is to 10.5 feet and includes earthen levees, removable floodwalls and canal gates.

"This project in conjunction with the Bayou Teche Floodgate closes the gap to create continuous flood protection from the Wax Lake Outlet to the Charenton Canal. This removable floodwall can be deployed in under six hours."

Gates give the district the ability to close the Yellow Bayou, Franklin and Hanson canals.

The extension also eliminates a situation in which flood control pumps in Franklin might pump water out into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, only to see it threaten local flooding as it flows back through the Charenton Canal, Matte said.

State Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin, cut the ribbon at the Nov. 9 ceremony. Other dignitaries included Chip Kline, director of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority; Parish President David Hanagriff and Chief Administrative Officer
Henry C. "Bo" LaGrange; Parish Councilman Rodney Olander; Franklin Mayor Eugene Foulcard; Matte; and Levee District board members Will Terry. Junius "J.P." Hebert and Kenneth Arceneaux.

The project is the latest in a series of flood-control improvements by the district. In November 2021, the Teche flood structure was completed. It was an $11.4 million project funded with a Department of Transportation and Development matching grant. It's designed to keep any storm surge generated by tropical weather from flowing up the Charenton Canal into the Teche.

In April 2022, a ribbon-cutting marked the opening of the Bayou Chene Flood Control Structure, an $80 million project funding through the CPRA. That work was designed to end back-flooding when the Atchafalaya River runs high.

Conrad Industries Inc. announced the appointment of Larry J. Callais to its Board of Directors.

Callais will serve as an independent Class I director, and as a member of the company’s Independent Directors Committee, effective immediately.

Johnny Conrad, chairman and CEO, commented, “We are pleased to welcome Larry Callais to our Board. Larry is well-known and well-respected in the business community in and around where Conrad has its primary operations. His skills and experience as a community banker and leader in the financial services industry will provide our Board and management with important insights and perspectives.”

Callais served as CEO of M C Bank from 1999 until 2021. He joined the bank in 1977. M C Bank is a Morgan City-based commercial bank with seven locations in south Louisiana.

Among his many civic and professional activities, Callais has served as chairman of the board of the St. Mary Parish Foundation, served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of Teche Regional Medical Center in Morgan City and is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Louisiana Bankers Association. He is a certified public accountant on inactive status.

Conrad Industries Inc., established in 1948 and headquartered in Morgan City, designs, builds and overhauls tugboats, ferries, lift boats, barges, offshore supply vessels and other steel and aluminum products for both the commercial and government markets. The company provides both repair and new construction services at its five shipyards.

An invasive insect that could be weakening stands of roseau cane across the Mississippi River Delta has spread farther east along the Gulf Coast, according to surveys performed by LSU AgCenter researchers.

Native to China and Japan, the roseau cane scale was initially found in Louisiana in 2016. Researchers have implicated the insect in the die-off of stands of roseau cane, a vital component of the coastal ecosystem.

“It is definitely a stressor, if it’s not outright killing the plants themselves,” said Tanner Sparks, a doctoral student in AgCenter entomologist Rodrigo Diaz’s biological control and invasive species lab. “It’s definitely a heavy stressor for weak plants.”

Surveys along the coast in the fall of both 2021 and 2022 indicated the roseau cane scale expanded its range since the invasive insects were first found in Louisiana and southeast Texas in 2016 and 2017. The insect’s range now stretches from Bayou La Batre, Alabama, to Sabine Pass, Texas.

Roseau cane stands run along the East Coast and Gulf Coast, providing habitat for birds, fish and shrimp. These stands establish deep roots in fragile soil, protecting shipping channels from waves and limiting erosion caused by major storms, Diaz said.

Scientists found the first evidence of the roseau cane scale in Louisiana in 2016 while studying previously healthy stands of the cane that collapsed and died. Other stressors, such as saltier water and extended periods of flooding, may contribute to the decline of roseau cane, but Diaz said a diverse team of scientists thinks the scale insect plays a role in the die-offs.

“Just by feeding, they are stealing nutrients from plants,” Sparks said. “A lot of the carbohydrates in the sap are not digested, so scales excrete them as honeydew.”

This honeydew allows sooty mold to grow, affecting the plant further.

A plant sap feeder, the roseau cane scale spends most of its lifecycle immobile while feeding on a host plant. As a result, the insect eventually does away with legs, eyes and antennae. However, the immature scale, called a crawler, is mobile and will search for the right feeding location before settling there for the rest of its life.

Diaz and other researchers have speculated that strong winds can blow the crawlers to new roseau cane stands, and storms can wash infested plants into debris piles. Pregnant females can hatch crawlers where the debris piles settle.

The roseau cane scale does not feed on rice, sugarcane or other grass species, Diaz said.

Bayou La Batre, southwest of Mobile, Alabama, appears to be the leading edge of the expansion because research teams only found immature specimens of the insects and no mature females.

The roseau cane die-offs have been limited to the Mississippi River Delta so far. Diaz said larger populations of the scale insects may be required to stress roseau cane stands to the point of dying.

“It may take several generations, maybe several years of that scale being present at a site, until they build numbers and the stress is more noticeable,” he said.

Diaz and a team of graduate students have traveled the coast in the fall to examine stands of roseau cane. In the summer, Sparks stopped on his way home from a beach trip to inspect cane near the interstate highway in the Mobile Bay area. He found evidence of the insect and returned with the research team later.

Interested amateurs have assisted in the search for the insects by uploading photos of infestations to iNaturalist, a social network that allows citizen scientists as well as professional researchers to share observations of plants and animals. Diaz encourages anyone with an interest to search roseau cane stands along the Gulf Coast for the scale insects.

“We suggest that people in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, they should be checking the cane to see if they have infestations there,” Diaz said.

Because the roseau cane scale is a native of colder climates, Diaz hypothesizes that the scale could survive farther north along the Atlantic Coast of the United States if it continues its spread.

Edward Turner normally cooks for the lunchtime crowd at the St. Mary Senior Citizens Center. On Tuesday, Turner was at a table at the center, waiting for someone else to bring out the food.

“At least I hope they are,” Turner said.

But he didn’t have to wait long for a plate of turkey with the trimmings, an early Thanksgiving meal made possible by a partnership bringing together Peoples Health, Second Harvest Food Bank and the St. Mary Parish Council on Aging.

This is the 12th year that Peoples Health, a United Health Care company, and Second Harvest have worked together to bring a free, hot holiday meal to seniors.

Morgan City seniors were treated Tuesday. Turkey was on the menu in Houma on Wednesday, Hammond Thursday and New Orleans Friday.

This year, sit-down meals returned after two COVID years in which meals were delivered drive-up style.

Second Harvest prepared 300 meals for the Morgan City event. The partnership will serve 6,000 meals this year.

The event in Morgan City drew a crowd.

“You’ve got people from all over,” said Peggy Turner, Edward’s wife. “Bayou Vista, Berwick, Patterson, Amelia. And Morgan City.”

The people at the event were served by former Parish President Paul Naquin, Parish Councilmen James Bennett and Les Rulf, and Morgan City Councilman Ron Bias.

Second Harvest’s mission, according to its website, is to give food-insecure people access to nourishment, to serve as an advocate for them and to provide education.

But “today we’re focused on seniors so they can get a hot meal,” said Brittany Bowie, Second Harvest’s impact operations director.