HLS 15RS-4622 ORIGINAL
2015 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 229
BY REPRESENTATIVE ST. GERMAIN
WATERWAYS: Urges and requests the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to name the
entrance to Buffalo Cove in the Atchafalaya Basin as Skerrett Point
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the United States Board on Geographic Names to name the entrance of
3 Buffalo Cove in the Atchafalaya Basin as Skerrett Point and to authorize and request
4 the Department of Transportation and Development and the Department of Natural
5 Resources to take any action necessary to propose this commemorative name
6 proposal to the United States Board on Geographic Names.
7 WHEREAS, the Atchafalaya Basin is America's largest river swamp at one hundred
8miles long and covers approximately eight hundred thousand acres; and
9 WHEREAS, the Atchafalaya is home to over one hundred different species of fish
10and aquatic life, sixty-five species of reptiles and amphibians, and two hundred fifty known
11species of birds, as well as the largest crop of wild crawfish in the world; and
12 WHEREAS, the Atchafalaya contains the largest continuous bottomland hardwood
13forest in the nation and is the only land-developing river delta in North America, which is
14only one of six in the world; and
15 WHEREAS, the value of the basin's fish, wildlife, and related recreational resources
16has been estimated at over one hundred million dollars annually and the value of the oil and
17gas, timber, and shipping is equal to that figure; and
18 WHEREAS, the Atchafalaya is an important floodway, carrying one-third of the
19waters of the Mississippi River, beginning below Natchez, safely to the Gulf of Mexico,
20protecting the cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans from potential flooding; and
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HCR NO. 229
1 WHEREAS, the state of Louisiana, working with several federal agencies, began
2efforts in the 1970's to enhance and promote the Atchafalaya, and those efforts have
3continued until the present day; and
4 WHEREAS, one of the areas selected for project enhancement by the state of
5Louisiana and the United States Army Corps of Engineers was Buffalo Cove; and
6 WHEREAS, B. E. M. "Ben" Skerret, III, Lafayette businessman, avid sportsman,
7an original member of Governor W. Fox McKeithen's 1971 Governor's Commission on the
8Atchafalaya Basin, and icon in the decades-long effort to preserve the basin, was
9instrumental in the selection of Buffalo Cove as a project site; and
10 WHEREAS, Mr. Skerrett was cited as a recipient of the 42nd Governor's State
11Conservation Achievement Award for his passion to preserve the Atchafalaya Basin, and
12particularly, his efforts to implement the Buffalo Cove Water Management Unit as a means
13of restoring the water quality and productivity to that popular basin fishing ground; and
14 WHEREAS, the groundbreaking for the Buffalo Cove project was December 2,
152005, only a few short weeks after his death.
16 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
17urge and request the United States Board on Geographic Names to name the entrance of
18Buffalo Cove in the Atchafalaya Basin as Skerrett Point and to authorize and request the
19Department of Transportation and Development and the Department of Natural Resources
20to take any action necessary to propose this commemorative name proposal to the United
21States Board on Geographic Names.
22 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a suitable copy of this Resolution be transmitted
23to the executive secretary of the United States Board on Geographic Names and the
24secretaries of the Department of Transportation and Development and the Department of
25Natural Resources.
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HCR NO. 229
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 229 Original 2015 Regular Session St. Germain
Urges and requests the United States Board on Geographic Names to name the entrance of
Buffalo Cove in the Atchafalaya Basin as Skerrett Point and authorizes and requests the
Department of Transportation and Development and the Department of Natural Resources
to take any action necessary to propose this commemorative name proposal to the United
States Board on Geographic Names.
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