US Fish & Wildlife Service's Bayou Gardens Open House February 24th in Lacombe, La.

February 6, 2024

Do you love gardening? Have you always wanted to help butterflies, birds, pollinators, and native wildlife in your landscape? Join us for the Bayou Gardens Open House on Saturday, February 24, 2024, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. to learn more about these topics.

The Bayou Gardens Open House event is held each year as the extensive collection of camellias on the grounds of the  Southeast Louisiana National Wildlife Refuges Headquarters Complex is in bloom.   The address of the complex and the event is 61389 LA-434, Lacombe, LA 70445.

Bayou Gardens Open House is put on in collaboration with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Friends of Louisiana Wildlife Refuges Inc., the St. Tammany Master Gardeners, and the LSU Ag Center office of St. Tammany Parish.

Exhibitors from numerous garden, wildlife, native plant, and habitat restoration groups set up manned stations with exhibits.

Many of the exhibitor booths include family-friendly craft activities.

The grounds of the refuge complex will be open during the event, including garden tours.

Indoor presentations will be given by Krista Adams of the Purple Martin Conservation Initiative, and Paige Mizell with Mizell's Camellia Hill Nursery.

The Refuge Visitors Center - with its museum, movies, wildlife exhibits, and gift shop will be open during the event.

The Friends of Louisiana Wildlife Refuges will hold our very popular annual camellia and native plant sale during the open house. We will also supply light food, drinks, and snacks for purchase during the event. All proceeds from our sales go towards our work supporting the refuges, including the staff's outreach and educational programs.

More information on our plant sale can be found here.

We financially support this event so that it is free for anyone attending. We need some volunteers to help with our responsibilities for putting it on: food preparation and sales, the Visitors Center gift shop and our plant sale. If you are a Friends member and would like to volunteer to help us accomplish these things, even if it is for only a couple of hours, please send us an email at lwrfriends@gmail.com,

Our members are also welcome to volunteer on the day of the event as a refuge volunteer to help put it on. If you would like to help as a refuge volunteer, please email Refuge Ranger Becky Larkins at rebecca_larkins@fws.gov 

Training session for visitor center volunteers is set for Tuesday, February 20th.

February 3, 2024

Refuge Ranger Becky Larkins will hold a training session for visitor center volunteers on Tuesday morning, February 20th, from 9 AM until noon. This is for new volunteers and a refresher course for current volunteers or for those who have previously volunteered.

The refuge staff seeks more enthusiastic volunteers to join their Visitor Center & Museum Volunteer Team at the US Fish & Wildlife Service's headquarters complex Visitor Center. If you have thought about helping out by being a host, this will be a great way to find out more and meet the people you may be working with if you decide to volunteer.

The training session will take place at the Visitor Center in the Southeast Louisiana Refuges Headquarters Complex, which is located on a beautiful, historic property at 61389 LA-434, Lacombe, LA.

YOUR help is needed. Join the team to help greet visitors and share information about the nine National Wildlife Refuges in Southeast Louisiana.

The Visitor Center & Museum is open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 9 AM until 4 PM. Each of these days has two shifts staffed by different volunteers, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Volunteer shifts are from 9 a.m. to 12:30 PM and 12:30 PM to 4 PM You can sign up for as many or as few shifts as you have time available to volunteer.

If you would like to personally make a difference in being sure our Southeast Louisiana national wildlife refuges accomplish all of their varied purposes and everyone in our community is engaged, please consider becoming one of the ambassadors. You can help inform the public about the wonders of wildlife and habitats that are found in the refuges. With just 3 1/2 hours spent, you can have a significant impact by becoming a host/docent at the Visitors Center.

Registration for the class is required. Please RSVP by emailing Becky at rebecca_larkins@fws.gov, or if you have any questions, you can call her at 985-882-2025.

We will greatly appreciate your help!

Volunteers are needed to help with our camellia and native plant sales

January 27, 2024

Volunteers are needed from our membership to help with our camellia and native plant sales during the February 24th Bayou Gardens Open House.

One of the key fundraisers for the Friends of Louisiana Wildlife Refuges is our plant sale, which is held during the annual Bayou Gardens Open House event. It also is a draw that brings people out to the event.

In addition to having over sixty pots with multiple varieties of camellias, we also sell native plants, including many that create flowers needed by bird and insect pollinators.

Bayou Gardens Open House is held from 9 AM until 3 PM. However, our plant sale will only last as long as we have an inventory of plants to sell. It is not uncommon for us to sell out many of the plants in the first hours of the event. Our biggest need for volunteers is setting up the booth and spreading the potted plans around it. Even if you can only help us man the booth for a couple of hours, all help will be welcome!

All proceeds from our plant sales go towards our work supporting the refuges, including the staff's outreach and educational programs.

Information on the 2024 Bayou Gardens Open House can be found HERE

If you would like to personally make a difference in being sure our Southeast Louisiana National Wildlife Refuges accomplish all of its varied purposes, you can do so by volunteering to help with our plant sale. Please send us an email at lwrfriends@gmail.com if you like to.