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Ecotourism is the fastest growing segment of the world tourism industry, while a new report shows investment in U.S. national wildlife refuges delivers sound financial returns.

West Feliciana Parish, meanwhile, is sitting on a potential ecotourist Mecca in the form of Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge, though hardly anyone knows about the place, and the Bush administration in recent years has been slashing U.S. Fish and Wildlife budgets like Freddy Krueger at a slumber party. Cat Island became part of the National Wildlife Refuge System, part of Fish and Wildlife, in 2000.

As such, the 9,623-acre river bottomland—abundant with wildlife and home to the National Champion bald cypress tree—remains largely tourist-unfriendly and thus underused by the baby boom and younger birders, bikers and hikers that are making so-called green tourism such a hot commodity. The refuge also is open for hunting and fishing, though no-hunting zones are set aside for Cat Island’s approximately four miles of hiking trails.

A Cat Island more receptive to visitors—with on-site management, overnight camping, decent roads and extensive trails, for instance—would mean a wilderness playground a stone’s throw from Baton Rouge and a Capital Region more attractive to companies considering locating offices here, say those in favor of developing maximizing the parish’s ecotourism potential.

Steve Jones, head of the West Feliciana Parish Development Foundation, is one of those voices. He thinks an improved Cat Island refuge would aid the Baton Rouge Area Chamber’s marketing efforts while offering Baton Rougeans a natural escape from urban life.

“West Feliciana Parish is working to position itself as an ecotourism recreation location for the Baton Rouge region as it grows and real estate is more and more restricted,” Jones says. “As housing becomes more and more compressed in Baton Rouge and the surrounding area, to have that area that’s just completely open and wild for individuals and families to go to—it makes quality of life a whole lot better.”

In the past, just getting to the refuge was an adventure, especially after a low-water bridge between St. Francisville and Cat Island washed out two years ago, leaving just one way in and out that didn’t involve a boat. The bridge recently reopened, so access at least has improved, says Jack Hanemann, president of Friends of Cat Island.

Also, refuge manager Randy Breland managed to channel scarce resources into road maintenance at Cat Island, where roads take a beating from seasonal flooding. Breland, who also oversees St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Area, became manager when Cat Island was transferred from the Fish & Wildlife district based in Alexandria to the one based in Natchez, Miss.

“Randy was able to get some money out of the budget he had for road improvements,” Hanemann says. “The roads are in considerably in better shape than they were last year. It’s affected access tremendously.”

Hanemann, who also works for Entergy as a lobbyist, says the Friends group was energized after meeting Breland, who’s been helping with various projects—setting up a Boy Scouts Jamboree site, reconfiguring hiking trails away from flood areas and building wildlife viewing areas. Then came the bad news: Breland, with only three more years to retirement from Fish and Wildlife, announced that he’s being transferred.

The Friends were crestfallen. They had somebody who was willing to work with them and even devote resources. Now they don’t know what or who they’ll get. Current projects are in doubt. In the meantime, refuge managers are forced to operate on a shoestring because of budget cuts.

“That is a serious problem with the entire U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, that their maintenance and personnel budgets keep getting slashed,” Hanemann says. “It makes it very difficult for them to operate those refuges.”

Photo by Marie Constantin

A federal study released in November shows that investment in national wildlife refuges gives a good return for taxpayers—about $4 for every $1 by the federal government. The report, from Fish and Wildlife, finds that refuges each year generate $1.7 billion in economic activity—20% of it fueled by hunting and fishing—and $185 million in tax revenues. Refuges in the Southeast attracted the most visitors—9.4 million. Nevertheless, Fish and Wildlife is planning to cut 565 jobs from refuges by 2009, a 20% reduction that will leave more than 200 refuges unstaffed, like Cat Island is now.

Hanemann says funding of the refuge would have to “improve substantially” to make it the green-tourism magnet he thinks it could be. He plans to meet with members of the Louisiana congressional delegation to explore other means of getting money—earmarks for instance. Theresa Byrd, district director for Rep. Richard Baker’s office, says Baker is eager to lend a hand—since he was instrumental in the creation of the Cat Island refuge—but is awaiting guidance from Hanemann and Friends of Cat Island.

“We want to help,” Byrd says. “We just don’t exactly where to begin. We just need somebody to steer us in the right direction. We need to get started on it as quickly as possible.”

Photo by Marie Constantin

ISLAND SIGHTS: Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 9,623-acre river bottomland in West Feliciana Parish with trails (above left) and cypress trees (above right), including the National Champion bald cypress (below). The refuge is open for hunting and fishing but remains largely underused by birders, bikers and hikers.

John House, manager of West Feliciana’s Audubon State Historical Site, says ecotourism makes sense for the parish and carries little of the “downside of progress” carried by other economic generators—heavy industry, for instance. Tunica Hills State Park is another work in progress likely to be a hit with nature-loving tourists when planned improvements there are complete, he says. There’s a big demand for such activities along U.S. 61, a popular route between Natchez and New Orleans.

Bike trails at Cat Island would be a major plus, House adds, since West Feliciana is already thick with bicyclists who come for the pleasant, winding, shaded roads. In general, developing the refuge would be a good thing, he says.

“It would be boon for the economy, it would be a boon for the parish, and I think certainly it would be a boon for the state because it give us something else to offer,” House says. “Because this is an area that people are interested in coming to already.”