Lafayette Family Adventure Day

On Saturday, March 16, as part of Family Adventure Day, a fundraiser for Healing House, a non-profit in Lafayette offering grief counseling for children, families explored 42 stations around town. Each station offered a free activity that could engage family members of all ages. Our table was set up at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) headquarters near the Cajundome. Some of our neighbors were the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS, one of our managing agencies), the Acadiana Park Nature Station, and LDWF .

 

At our station, families could hold baby alligators and touch a few different animal hides with LDWF; play with Einstein, the albino corn snake from the Acadiana Park Nature Station; practice their fishing technique, plant seeds for pollinators, or identify different bird species using binoculars with USFWS. Our public outreach office brought our habitat toss game that highlights the differences between wetland habitats in Louisiana and why an animal species would live in one habitat but not another, as well as give some examples of species that use more than one type of habitat. We also brought plenty of educational publications.

An estimated ninety families passed through the LDWF headquarters during the day , so we saw about 300 people over the course of the event. Families visited locations like the Lafayette Science Museum, the UL Marine Survival Training Center, Bayou Vermilion District, and more. Our posters, magnet sheets and stickers were popular with the kids, and several families signed up to receive WaterMarks.

Family Adventure Day is an annual event, so be on the lookout for next year! We had a great day and we appreciate LDWF and USFWS for hosting us this year. We would also like to thank all of the families who came to support Healing House and learn about our area’s wildlife. Please enjoy the attached photos of families engaging with us and our neighbors.

 

Louisiana’s National Hunting and Fishing Day 2018

Hosted by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, CENLA Hunting and Fishing Day took place in Woodworth, Louisiana on Saturday, September 22, 2018. National Hunting and Fishing Day “was created in 1972 by Congress to celebrate the conservation contributions of our nation’s hunters and anglers” [1].  This national celebration is the largest public event for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries which hosts activities at four locations across the state reaching up to 10,000 citizens [1]. At the Woodworth location, there were about 30 activities and exhibits open to the public from 8:00AM to 1:30PM. CWPPRA Outreach staff were set up near the Rapides Wildlife Association, USDA-NRCS, and Boy Scouts of America Troop 49.

At the CWPPRA exhibit, visitors had the opportunity to test their knowledge of wetland plants, animals, and benefits with our Wetland Jeopardy game. This event was an opportunity for CWPPRA Outreach to connect with people outside of the coastal parishes. The people in Woodworth welcomed our group and took advantage of CWPPRA materials at the outreach table which included our new vintage-style project posters, Henri Heron’s Activity Book, and recent issues of WaterMarks. Additionally, we handed out a record number of invasive roseau cane scale informational pamphlets to interested outdoors-men. Examples of activities held at other exhibits included pinecone bird feeders, fresh and salt water fish ID, and primitive fire starting.

Citizens who had never heard of CWPRPA learned about our mission to construct projects that protect and restore wetlands and barrier islands in coastal Louisiana. CWPPRA projects may focus on coastal land, but the connections between the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi and other rivers in Louisiana also influence our wetlands. existence. Communities depend on wetlands for activities such as hunting, fishing, recreation, or as a source of income. CWPPRA takes a holistic approach to engage citizens of all backgrounds, with the goal of increasing their support for wetland restoration and environmental stewardship.

Source:

[1] Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries. National Hunting and Fishing Day 2018. 1 October 2018. http://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/nhfd2018

[2] Featured Image: Accessed on 2 October 2018.  https://www.facebook.com/cenlanhfd/photos/a.417626328375536/464852536986248/?type=3&theater

Project Front Yard EcoSTEAM Camp

From July 16^th-18^th, the CWPPRA Public Outreach Team and special guests helped educate children about wetland resources during the inaugural Project Front Yard STEM summer camp at Girard Park in Lafayette, LA. Project Front Yard is an organization within Lafayette Consolidated Government that seeks to educate the public towards a more sustainable future. Our activities this week covered wetland plants, endangered species, and birding with groups split by age: 5-8, 9-10, and 11-14 years old.

On the first day, our team demonstrated how wetland plants transport gases through their tissues with the help of Carrie Salyers of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Using plastic cups, straws, and a tray of water, campers had to get air into and out of the “leaves” (cups) and the “roots” (straws) while they were inundated. We also brought our Wetland Jeopardy board to test campers’ knowledge of Louisiana’s wetland flora, fauna, and benefits.

Campers use pressure through straws to put air into a submerged leaf-cup

Tuesday morning, the children walked into their meeting room to a toothy surprise. Gabe Giffin from LDWF brought several young alligators from Rockefeller NWR for the campers to hold and examine. In another room, Carrie Salyers taught the campers about the biology of endangered whooping cranes. After discussing how Whooping Cranes use their beaks to catch food, Salyers, her CWPPRA helpers, and ULL’s Sam Hauser led an activity exploring how bird beak shapes are suited to eating different types of foods.

Campers posing with an alligator hatched in 2017

Each participant had a different utensil to attempt picking up different types of food and putting them into their “stomachs”

For our last day with the camp, Jessica Schulz, an ornithologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, brought a mist net to demonstrate how birds are captured and processed in the field. We set up outside in Girard Park and allowed the children to retrieve fake birds from the mist net, band their legs, and record some measurements to measure the health of the birds. While we were setting up, we accidentally caught a real house sparrow! The bird was released quickly and campers were able to see firsthand how effective mist nets can be!

Carefully removing a male cardinal from the mist net

House Sparrow that made its way into our mist net