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MAUREPAS — The Lake Maurepas Sunset Park has been placed under the management of the St. John the Baptist Parish Parks and Recreation Department, and work is ongoing at rehabilitate the park from damage sustained during Hurricane Ida.

During the August 25 Friends of the Manchac Greenway meeting in LaPlace, St. John Parish Councilman Robbie Arcuri reported that several new picnic pavilions and additional shoreline rip-rap protection has been installed at Sunset Park.

This past spring, volunteers with Friends of the Manchac Greenway completed dozens of Cypress plantings along the park to restore parts of the ecology lost to the hurricane. The Cypress plantings are now estimated to have around a 30% survival rate. Additional plantings are being proposed for November in conjunction with Restore the Earth Foundation plantings in nearby Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries wildlife management areas.

In other infrastructure news, Arcuri and Galen Schum shared information from Wildlife & Fisheries’ August 24 meeting about seismic work in Lake Maurepas. While still in the early planning stages, steps are being taken to prepare for hydrogen storage one mile below the lake.

Friends of the Manchac Greenway shared concerns about how the use of seismic activity in Lake Maurepas would affect commercial fishing operations in the Manchac area.

Tara Lambeth, director of Planning and Zoning for St. John Parish, reported that St. John, Tangipahoa and St. Tammany parishes have jointly applied for the Safe Streets And Roads For All grant program, which will aid in transportation planning between the three parishes.

The next Friends of the Manchac Greenway meeting will take place at 2 p.m. Thursday, September 29 at the Turtle Cove Office, located at 87 Alligator Lane in Galva.