Last Thursday was a very fine day. The weather was gorgeous and I got to do one of my most gratifying things: Go into nature with a bunch of kids and get them interested in what’s out there.

The kids were high school students from Caldwell Parish. The place was the Charles Allen Nature Preserve along the Ouachita River near Columbia, La. Dr. Joydeep Bhattacharjee, biology professor at University of Louisiana Monroe, also brought his ecology class from ULM. I got to talk to them briefly, but spent most of my time with the kids and their teachers.

What is this tree? What is that plant? Does that one go under “shrub” or “herbaceous”? You see, Dr. Joydeep had given them a worksheet and they had to find plants that fit in different categories: trees, shrubs, herbaceous, invasive. I did the best I could answering their questions and helping them fulfill their assignment.

They were also charged with the task of testing the water in the Ouachita River, and so we worked our way down off the ridge onto the bottomland and to the edge of the water. The river was quite low, so we got to walk around on a sandbar that is often under water.

What kind of mussel is this? Yay, kid! I’m not sure I’d have know it was a “mussel” at your age. I did not know what kind it was, so we used the iNaturalist app on my iPhone to take a photo and post it online. The answer came quickly: Three-ridged Mussel (Amblema picata). The kid turned the mussel in his hand and counted the ridges: Yup. One, two, three.

I am deeply grateful to the Caldwell Parish Industrial Board for purchasing this 100-acre natural treasure in order to preserve it and use it to teach upcoming generations to appreciate and care for our natural heritage. I am gratified to be one of the people they call on to participate in these events. And I am deeply honored that they named a trail here after me, the Bette Kauffman Bottomland Trail. Anybody wanna see it? I lead hikes! And its a wonderful trail.