Friends of Black Bayou will host their Earth Day celebration on Saturday, April 18, from 8:30 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. at 480 Richland Place, Monroe.
The event will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the new Snake Room in the refuge’s Conservation Learning Center. This exhibit is meant to teach visitors about the many snake species.
The Louisiana Plein Air Competition will also be showcased at the event. Artists of all ages will be able to come to the refuge to create beautiful artwork inspired by the landscape around them. Friends of Black Bayou also offers free art workshops every third Saturday.
Guests can take part in a short nature walk through the refuge. During the walk, they will get to explore the trails and wetlands while learning about the native plants and wildlife. On the first Saturdays of each month, there will be full moon walks, which are one of the rare opportunities for guests to visit the refuge at night.
The Earth Day celebration shows the larger mission of the Friends of Black Bayou, which is to promote conservation, education, and enhancement.
For more information regarding the event, visit friendsofblackbayou.org or follow their Facebook or Instagram.
TRANSCRIPT
[00:00] Welcome to Lagniappe, a program about events, issues, and people. I'm Cory Crowe. I'm here with Claire Roan from Friends of Black Bayou. Welcome, Claire. Thanks for being with us on Lagniappe.
[00:15] Thanks for having me. Well, it is a big, important environmental month. Earth Day is coming up, and you've got a big celebration at Black Bayou.
[00:25] Yes. We're going to do Earth Day a little different this year. It's going to be on Saturday, April 18th, and we are very excited. By the way, Earth Day is the 22nd every year, but it doesn't fall on a weekend. So we'll catch it on the weekend when everybody can come out and enjoy what's going to be happening at the Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge.
[00:47] So we're really excited. We are going to be having a plane air art competition. This will be our third art competition that we're doing at the refuge. If you are interested in entering in that, you will show up between 8:30 and 9:30 to get registered, and then you will have until noon to paint whatever view you are seeing at the refuge.
[01:10] Okay. So plane air art, and what I remember is that's the one where you just go stand outside with an easel and you just get after it, right?
[01:18] Pretty much. For our adults and middle school and up, we ask you to bring your own materials so you can go out wherever you want, whether that's on the boardwalk or in the woods, wherever you feel comfortable and want to paint. But for those who are under middle school age, we will have materials for our young artists and our tiny artists.
[01:43] Again, talking about Saturday, April 18th. If I'm going to be an artist and I want to come out and paint, do I have to register or do anything?
[01:52] You can register early. Our information is on our Facebook page or on our website, which is friendsofblackbayou.org, or you can show up that day and we can get you registered then. It is $10 a person for minors, and for those over 18, it's $20. But if you're a member of Friends of Black Bayou, we'll cut that cost in half.
[02:16] Friends of Black Bayou Plane Air Art Competition. Okay. You're going to judge those later in the day, but let's start earlier in the day. What time do I need to be there to get set up, and when can I start painting?
[02:30] You can start painting as soon as you get there and set up, so registration will be between 8:30 and 9:30. As soon as you get registered, go find your spot and start painting.
[02:45] Okay. What if I'm a slow painter? When do I need to have it wrapped up by?
[02:50] About 10 till noon. At noon, you'll be giving your painting to the judges, and we'll be able to judge after that. We also have some special judges from ULM Tech and Grambling, so we're really getting the whole community together.
[03:05] All right. So the Plane Air Art Competition for all ages coming up Saturday the 18th. All right. You're going to paint your picture, you're going to turn it in, the judges are going to look at them. While all that's going on, though, at noon, you've got something big happening.
[03:22] We are so excited. We have so many little critters hanging out in our learning center that we've had to make new space. So we have a new room dedicated just to snakes.
[03:32] A snake room.
[03:33] Yes. I'm so excited. We have a Louisiana pine snake, two of them, which are the rarest snake in North America. Ours may be some of the oldest on record. If they were humans, they'd be heading off to college about now, so about 18, 19 years old. Those are old snakes.
[03:53] Yeah. But we've taken good care of them, and they have taught so many people in North Louisiana about conservation and being fearless when it comes to snake handling.
[04:05] I always get my pine snake and coral snakes mixed up, and that's bad, isn't it?
[04:10] Oh, there is no reason to get them mixed up. Pine snakes, you're not going to see in the wild. They are native to Kisatchie, and they're fossorial, which means they live underground in burrows.
[04:23] Well, there you go. That's why I don't see them.
[04:25] That's why you don't see them. The only place I think you'll see them is at Black Bayou. That is the snake room. You're dedicating this. Y'all been working on this a long time.
[04:34] We have, and we've had so many lovely volunteers help us, many artists, even people sewing to get everything perfect. We just want to thank everyone who helped us with the snake room and have everybody who hasn't had an opportunity to come see the snake room yet get to come see it.
[04:52] How many snakes are in this snake room?
[04:54] You know what? You'd have to show up and count for yourself. I don't remember. There's so many.
[05:01] Okay. The snake room, dedication, and reception, and then after that, the judges will have the art figured out, and they'll tell you who the winners are, right?
[05:10] So if you show up at noon, you'll get to see the snake room, the dedication. You'll get to go on a short nature walk, and then by the time you get done with the nature walk, you'll get to view all the judged art and see who has won our competition.
[05:27] All right. I want to ask a little bit about if you've never been to Black Bayou, there might be some new folks that have never been to the Wildlife Refuge. Maybe they're new in town. Maybe they came with META or whatever. What are they going to see when they come to Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge?
[05:44] It's wonderful. When you pull up, you'll first see this big house. We actually, back in the 90s, moved that house to that location just for the opening of the Wildlife Refuge, and then we have a conservation learning center, which is where the snake room is. That's where we do different classes, where you can see baby alligators, turtles, and of course the snakes, and where we do a lot of our education programming. We have many paths that you can walk. Some go down to the water and to the boardwalk. Others are shorter and where you can see more prairie areas.
[06:21] Tell me a little bit about Saturdays. You do something fancy on the first Saturdays of the month. What's it all about?
[06:28] Our first Saturday kids programs are a great program designed for, I'd say, about four-year-olds to second grade. They can come in at 10 o'clock every first Saturday of the month, except July. We take July off, and learn about whatever we have going on. Sometimes it's a friend of Black Bayou presenting the information. Sometimes we'll have our friends from a meteorology team, the weather folks, or we've had Girl Scouts present. We've had lots of different people come in and present about different animals, habitats, or features of nature.
[07:02] Pretty soon we'll have another full moon.
[07:04] We will. For the past two full moons, we have done a full moon walk. It is one of the few times you're allowed to be at the refuge after dark. Check our Facebook page and see the next full moon walk we have planned.
[07:18] It's Claire Roan, Friends of Black Bayou. Now Earth Day coming up on Saturday, April the 18th. For folks to follow along with you and find out what's happening at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge, what do they do?
[07:32] The best way, I would say, is to follow us on our Facebook page, Friends of Black Bayou Inc., or our Instagram page. We also have a website, friendsofblackbayou.org.
[07:48] Claire Roan. Again, Earth Day, Saturday, April 18th. Make sure to like and subscribe to our videos on Lagniappe, and be sure and share this with your friends.
