Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Two camouflaged camera lenses poke through the brush. The photographers, also camouflaged, follow. Four weeks earlier, an ice storm struck northern Louisiana, leaving many here without electricity for more than a week. Now, in late February, the photographers move through a world in early bloom. One of them, Jon Guice, first visited Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge during the pandemic. He had always heard about its 5,300 acres that provide habitat for waterfowl, neotropical migrant birds, endangered wildlife and other emblematic Louisiana species such as alligators and alligator snapping turtles. He didn’t expect to find a new passion that would lure him here as many as three times a week.

“There’s such a variety of birds, especially in the spring,” says Guice, member of the Friends of Black Bayou, the volunteer organization that, according to its mission, “supports the protection and enhancement” of the refuge in Ouachita Parish. Opening the Merlin Bird ID app on his phone, Guice shows me the red-bellied woodpecker, yellow-rumped warbler and tufted titmouse we’ve been hearing in the Visitor Center parking lot.

The Conservation Learning Center at Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge includes aquariums, a classroom and a new snake room.

When Friends of Black Bayou Vice President Ann Bloxom Smith joins us, talk turns from the abundance of birds at the refuge to its lack of funding. Skeleton staff are spread over multiple refuges. They discuss litter and grass that often remains uncut because the refuge is on federal property and can’t insure volunteers for such work. And yet, Guice says, “We can’t live without volunteers.”

“If they give us staff, we can make do with the lack of funding,” says Smith, a retired English professor at UL Monroe who joined the Friends of Black Bayou upon the refuge’s founding in 1997. Then as now, much of the work here falls on volunteers. “The one thing we agree on is we all love the refuge,” she says, waving to two visitors who have come for a morning walk, then a father and daughter carrying fishing poles. “Everything you see here is out of Kelby Ouchley’s head. First, it was his dream. Then it became our dream.”

The refuge is open seven days a week. Hours differ, so check before you plan your visit. From the Visitor Center, it’s a short walk to the pier that extends into Black Bayou Lake. There are also a variety of trails, including some accessible by bicycles, wheelchairs, strollers and ATVs.

In the late 1990s, Ouchley, the legendary Louisiana naturalist and author who managed wildlife refuges for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for 30 years, mentioned on his public radio show that a new refuge would open on a former cotton plantation north of Monroe. Anyone who wished to support it should attend a meeting. Smith went. So did 40 others. The next day, she and several from that group visited the site. Ouchley, the inaugural manager, wanted to show them the house that the refuge had been offered. There was one catch. To receive the donation, the refuge needed a Friends group.

“It had holes in the roof big enough to drop a Volkswagen in,” Smith says, laughing. The Friends of Black Bayou quickly formed and began seeking funding to restore the house. Volunteers got to work. Four years passed before they felt confident that a visitor wouldn’t fall through the floor. Today, the house is magazine ready.

In front of the house, which serves as the Visitor Center and Nature Store, Smith grabs my shoulders. After a gentle push, I realize that she needs me to turn around. “My students used to always ask why I keep coming out here, to the same place. I would tell them, ‘Every week, there’s something new.’” Her delight leads me to an oak tree and 30 feet up, where purple buds bloom against a hardening blue sky. “I love to see the changes.”

A few minutes later, the Conservation Learning Center hums from tanks filled with fish, alligators, snakes, turtles and alligator snapping turtles. Inside, volunteers Tina Turek and Jim Kolinsky are feeding and cleaning. Both live on the property, their utilities paid in exchange for 24 hours of weekly work. Understaffing means they often work more. When not keeping the aquariums pristine and buying food for the animals when the refuge is short of funding, they’re busy researching. Today, Kolinsky shares his knowledge about snakes with a family from West Monroe, though much of his energy goes into convincing the youngest daughter that the corn snake won’t bite.

From there, Smith needs to inspect the 1-mile Nature Trail. Several yards in, she crouches to examine new growth. “This is why I don’t walk for exercise. I stop and look at everything.” This part of the refuge flooded in 2016. Water reached the top steps of the Visitor Center, where we find two volunteers in a room filled with handmade jewelry, art, books and refuge merchandise.

“The best thing about the refuge is Ann [Bloxom Smith],” says Egyptian-born volunteer Ruby Blocker. “She has given us another home. Every time I come here, I feel at home. I will try to be like Ann and make everyone who comes here feel at home.” And in Blocker’s smile, you see what this place provides for so many, the sanctuary of nature and its persistent gifts.

LOCATION | Ouachita Parish

Art

The refuge hosts an annual contest for photographs taken on the premises. Visitors on the first Saturday of the month can participate in environmental education events for children. On the third Saturday of each month, visitors can attend free “Art in Nature” workshops. Once a year, the refuge hosts the Louisiana Plein Air Competition. There are also occasional full moon walks.

Animals

Predators such as racoons, foxes and snakes eat the eggs of alligator snapping turtles. To preserve the species, which the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service deems threatened, staff and volunteers collect alligator snapping turtle eggs at the refuge and send them to the Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery. When the alligator snapping turtles reach the size of a silver dollar, they return to the refuge.