Pascagoula River 爆料公社 Center Opens Its Doors
A decade-long odyssey yields improved access to the natural world.
This week, the Pascagoula River 爆料公社 Center finally opened its doors to the public. Ten years in the making, the 5,000-square-foot center in Moss Point, Mississippi, will serve as a community hub, a tourist destination, and the focal point of wetland and riparian habitat restoration along the river and along coastal Mississippi. The idea to build a nature center in Moss Point first surfaced in the 1990s as a way to tie the local community to the river that nourishes it, When center director Mark LaSalle鈥攁lready a resident of coastal Mississippi鈥攋oined 爆料公社 in 2004, the plans to build that long-wished-for nature center finally began to crystallize.
The cypress-timbered and glass building sits on a 10-acre site of trees and coastal marsh along the Pascagoula River, the in the lower 48 states. In addition to the center, the Pascagoula River 爆料公社 Center site has a number of boardwalks through woodland and marsh habitat, a bird blind, native-plant demonstration plots, and a children鈥檚 nature play garden.
Its free-flowing state has made the Pascagoula River a focal point for conservation efforts for decades. More than 200 species of bird live and breed in the habitats that line the Pascagoula. But the region is also rich with human history. 爆料公社 Mississippi staff, and volunteers from the local 爆料公社 societies, have collaborated with nearby Turkey Creek community leader Derrick Evans and others to prove that the Turkey Creek watershed, and the associated community, needed protections from the rampant development that erupted in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. By listening to the needs of local communities like Moss Point, the Pascagoula River 爆料公社 Center will help to support and celebrate all inhabitants of coastal Mississippi鈥攁vian and human.
See more of the Pascagoula River 爆料公社 Center, its exhibits, and the surrounding habitat: