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Parish officials say multi-agency effort underway to remove lilies, clear waterways; removal costs cited
Summary
Terrebonne Parish officials and Lafourche representatives discussed plans to clear invasive lily vegetation, trial removal methods and shared-cost arrangements with state wildlife officials; officials cited removal costs of roughly $40,000 per mile for physical removal and about $1,000 per mile for spraying.
Terrebonne Parish officials told residents at a town hall that they are pursuing multi-agency approaches to remove heavy vegetative growth — including invasive lilies — from parish bayous and to change how waterway maintenance is funded and carried out.
Parish officials said the problem affects drainage, navigation and safety along waterways that form parish boundaries. “Because it's the dividing line between Lafourche and Terrebonne Parish, and it's in bad need of cleaning and dredging,” a resident told the meeting during public comments. Parish leadership said they will pursue coordinated work orders to address specific locations.
Officials described recent steps to change maintenance practice and to pilot removal techniques. A parish representative said they held a demonstration two weeks earlier with wildlife and fisheries and an equipment vendor; wildlife and fisheries then “contract that machine with us, split the cost, and pull out a float” as part of a trial to remove lilies rather than only spraying them. The parish official added that the demonstration showed the vendor could provide a less expensive removal option than wildlife and fisheries previously had available.
Parish leadership provided figures for cost comparisons. The parish president said they are "looking at about a thousand a thousand per mile" to spray vegetation, but "to pull them right now based on current technology, it's about 40,000." Officials said those removal costs vary and that the parish is exploring ways to reduce per-mile costs, including equipment sharing, repurposing harvested plant material and working with neighboring parishes and state agencies.
Lafourche Parish President Mitch Angron said dredging a bayou would require coordination among multiple agencies and entities that jointly exercise authority over the water body. "That is gonna require multiple agencies to work together," Angron said, listing state water-bottom ownership, levee districts, wildlife and fisheries and CPRA as participants who would need to be engaged for a dredging project.
Officials said the parish is testing new contracts and equipment approaches and looking for private-sector partners that could repurpose removed material. They also described a plan to collect specific locations from residents so work orders can be created. Officials stressed that some solutions — especially dredging — are agency- and funding-dependent and may require separate negotiations and approvals.
Parish staff suggested next steps will include mapping priority waterways, continuing trials with wildlife and fisheries, negotiating cost‑sharing arrangements and seeking funding or partnerships to lower unit costs. Residents were invited to submit locations to the parish so staff can generate specific work orders.
The parish asked residents to expect follow-up from staff and promised to place documented issues into the parish work‑order system.
