Goodrich Landing is one of few public boat access ramps to the Mississippi River in East Carroll Parish, and for the twenty-five years of La. Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agent Wayne Parker’s career, it’s been “substandard,” and for the last three years, it has been inaccessible.
Both Parker and Police Juror Randy Walters have been pushing to have the landing reconstructed. “It’s the only launch point we have to the main channel of the river, and is ideal for fishing and for emergency response to things that happen out there,” said Parker.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came in last month and rebuilt the landing completely so that it is now in great shape and accessible. Walters said, “They called one day and just told me to go look at it. They’d taken care of it that quick.”
Parker remembers a time when there were concrete picnic tables at the landing, built to withstand the river’s changing elevations, and 20-30 people there picnicking on the weekends. While no plans are currently in place to rebuild the park, Walters does hope that the landing will be made more accessible to the public, which would include work done on the access road to it.
