Louisiana Cypress

Somehow, Lake Fausse Pointe in south Louisiana avoided losing its giant cypress trees to the timber industry. The lake was also excluded from major flood projects. And that has saved a pristine wilderness area that one man believes should become a national park.

Ancient cypress forest in south louisiana

Harold Schoeffler of Lafayette guides his aluminum fishing boat along the shoreline of Lake Fausse Pointe. The lake is located outside the west guide levee of the giant Atchafalaya Basin Floodway that serves as a relief valve for the Mississippi River. The only access by land is gravel road that runs along the levee between the small communities of Catahoula and Charenton.

The bald cypress trees, their branches loaded with Spanish moss and gold and orange fall leaves, stand along the lake’s shoreline. The swamp giants have stood like sentinels in the shallow lake for a millennium. “We dated ten of them in this particular area, and five were over 1,500 years old,” Schoeffler tells me. He assumes that some of the old growth trees were here, “when Christ was walking on Earth”.

a push for a national park

“This is the Yellowstone of the South,” Schoeffler says. He adds, “It’s one of the most beautiful spots on earth and it’s certainly worth preserving”. Schoeffler, a longtime environmentalist who has spent decades trying to preserve the natural habitat of the Atchafalaya Basin Swamp, has already begun his campaign for Lake Fausse Pointe. He has written a proposal and contacted his local congressman. “We meet the criteria,” Schoeffler says. “Congressman (Clay) Higgins’ staff is setting up the meetings with the National Park Service.” Schoeffler is optimistic he can get Congress to act in just one session.

see the cypress fall color in lake fausse pointe

drawing the boundaries

Schoeffler has a map which highlights his proposed national park. “We have an area that’s over a hundred thousand acres without roads and permanent residents,” Schoeffler explains. The land extends 25 miles through the western Atchafalaya swamp and includes parts of three parishes, St. Martin, Iberia and St. Mary.

beauty in a louisiana cypress swamp

getting to lake fausse pointe

The only land access is via the Levee Road. Drive approximately 10 miles south of Lake Fausse Pointe State Park near St. Martinville, LA. You can also access Lake Fausse Pointe by boat from the public boat launch on Jeanerette Canal Road, Jeanerette, LA.

Par Rd 305, Louisiana 70544

Jeanerette Canal Rd, Jeanerette, LA 70544