After a historic winter storm dumped snow on a cypress tree in her Bayou Gauche neighborhood, Alyssa Moreau snapped a photograph.
That photograph, which Moreau posted on Facebook, caught the attention of a member of the Dufrene family, which has been fighting to protect the tree on its property for years.
Moreau soon found herself on a phone call with Murray Dufrene, who owns the land where the tree has thrived for hundreds of years. Dufrene shared the history of the tree with Moreau and told her something upsetting – the tree could be at risk.
“It was shocking that [anyone] wanted to cut half the tree down,” Moreau said. “We were bonding over it – there’s no reason to take the tree.”
The bald cypress tree is over 370 years old and is the only bald cypress tree in St. Charles Parish that is registered with the Louisiana Purchase Cypress Legacy Organization: the tree was alive prior to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The tree also has a full canopy, a rare find for a tree of its age, according to the Dufrene family.
But the tree sits near the Sunset Levee, and efforts to increase flood protections of the area could put the tree at risk. The Dufrene family spoke out in 2016 and 2017 to keep the Grand Bayou Levee Project from interfering with the tree.
“I need flood protection just like everybody else,” Dufrene said. “The tree has been there a long time. Can anything be done in the engineering to leave the tree alone and still do the hurricane protection?”
The current work by Lafourche Basin Levee District and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority will not impact the tree, according to Sam Scholle, the levee projects manager for St. Charles Parish.
“I cannot speak to future T-Wall work the [Army Corps of Engineers] may do for 100-year flood,” Scholle said.
Dufrene asked Moreau to spread awareness about the tree, using her photograph to help spread the message.
She reposted her photograph to Facebook with a description of the history of the tree. The response has been positive, she said.
“Everybody wants to support the tree,” Moreau said. “I haven’t gotten any negative feedback.”
