Caddo Parish’s Walter B. Jacobs Memorial Nature Park, just west of Blanchard, is a local treasure familiar to many students, families, and nature lovers throughout the Ark-La-Tex. Spanning 161 acres of forest, trails, hills and creeks, packed with remarkable native flora and fauna, the park receives over 40,000 guests per year from across our region.
The current visitor center is a log-cabin style structure of 3,000 square feet, built in 1976, with a small conference room, several offices and a few glass cases with displays of local wildlife. Though the parish maintains the park very well, WBJ has not enjoyed the benefits of state capital outlay funding for over 40 years. Popular ongoing event programs like Owl Night already draw crowds that exceed the capacity of the visitor center.
The Caddo Parish administration says that a major upgrade to the park facility is long overdue. They plan to apply for funding of up to $8 million from Baton Rouge, hoping for vital support from our North Louisiana State Senators Tarver, Milligan and Peacock. The parish may end up providing up to a 20% match for state funding.
If funded, the park will get a grand new visitor center with ample spaces for a number of new uses. There will be classrooms for indoor educational sessions for students on field trips, a cafeteria for feeding hungry hikers, conference and office spaces, and even an expansive birdwatching platform for the park’s popular events. At 15,000 square feet, the new center will be able to hold many more visitors at a time. It can also provide a venue for events like corporate conferences and weddings, potentially boosting its operating revenues.
Louisiana architecture firm TBA Studio has designed this complex structure with the intention of complementing its surroundings by incorporating features to harmonize with the natural setting. For instance, the open glass face of the building looks south, maximizing the sunlight and warmth that enters in the winter. Sections of overhanging roofs work like awnings to keep out the higher, hotter summer sun, saving energy and effort in all seasons.
TBA plans other features like reusing grey-water in plumbing systems, advanced insulation, rainwater capture and sustainable landscaping, PV cells, and local and repurposed building materials. Even the logs from the old cabin visitor center may find a new use on the same site.
This combination of sustainable design features probably exists nowhere else in the Ark-La-Tex and is perfectly suited to this nature park focused on ecology and education. “The building is intended to be educational in itself,” said architect Megan Young. “It will showcase many simple but superior methods of building that students and visitors may be seeing for the first time. The goal is to increase the functions of the site while reducing and minimizing the impact on the nature in the park.” This means minimizing the number of trees to be removed and preventing erosion and flash flooding of
Large, open-glass facades and repeated roof angles give the structure a modern rhythm, while small gardens, pergolas and sheltered spaces surrounding the building create an inviting feeling of hospitality. The building resonates with its natural surroundings despite its sophisticated look.
The design is grand but highly functional, without being over complicated or over decorated. It could accommodate many group sizes and could be decorated in many themes.
With such a center, and with the right landscaping and accessibility, Walter B. Jacobs would have a fine prospect of becoming an appealing venue for many weddings and events. In fact, Caddo Administration hopes that visitors will increase by as much as fifty percent, once the new facility is built.
Caddo Parish is to be commended for taking the initiative to improve the resource that is Walter B. Jacobs Nature Park. You can help by contacting your state senator and asking them to support state funding for this great project for our region.
THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE August 28 ISSUE OF FOCUS SB - THE INQUISITOR.