The Louisiana Office of Tourism hosted meetings in Acadiana on Thursday to discuss the updating of local birding trails with community members.
Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser and state tourism officials are currently seeking site nominations to include in the redesigned Louisiana Birding Trails.
Meetings were held on July 15 at the tourism offices in Lafayette and Jennings to provide an overview of the projects, discuss the nomination process and criteria, and answer any questions attendees may have.
The trails, originally launched 20 years ago, will be updated to include public and private sites known for exceptional birding and outdoor recreation.
"We have a birding trail that is 20 years old now and it's a flat print document so we are updating it to the modern era we are bringing in some electronic resources and updating the nominations of the sites," said Erik Johnson, Director of Conservation Science.
The update is part of a process to assess, evaluate, and redesign the existing trails. The project is funded in part by a grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.
"The first step right now is identifying the different sites that should go into the system and this will be a product that birders locally and from around the country can use to find the best place to go bird watching," said Erik Johnson, Director of Conservation Science.
Nominations can be submitted online at www.labirdingtrails.com for consideration.
Nominations must be submitted by September 30, 2021.
Once nominations are received, the state says that a team of field experts will visit each site to assess their potential and evaluate the bird habitats as well as outdoor amenities available for visitors.
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