The Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff is closed due to maintenance work. The facility will reopen on October 5 after the work is complete on the center’s displays and infrastructure, according to Jason Hooks, the center’s director.
“It’s a slow time for us right now, so we took the opportunity to do this work,” Hooks said. “We are doing work on the trail, the archery range, the flowerbeds and butterfly garden. Just basic beautification work. This is not a major project, it’s just a bunch of things that we have not had time to do.”
Hooks said that major updates to the center typically occur once every decade or so.
“Our last one was in 2011,” he said.
The center, which opened in 2001, is located in 130 acres of a bottomland forest, surrounded by the Black Dog Bayou and the Lake Langhofer. The nature center offers more than two miles of trails through the forest and the opportunity to see geese, ducks, snakes, rabbits or even deer quietly grazing.
The next big event for the center will be the 12th Annual Quilt Show from on Saturday, October 13. This event, which will take place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., will feature six quilt categories – each eligible for a viewers’ choice award. Quilts can be delivered for the show October 9-11.
After the quilt show comes Boo on the Bayou, the center’s annual Halloween event. Boo on the Bayou will be held Friday, October 26 and Saturday, October 27. The event features inflatables, the ScaryMaze, the Trail of Terror and, of course, candy, food vendors and more.
According to the center’s mission statement, it “teaches visitors the Delta’s heritage, wildlife and ecology in both indoor and outdoor settings. The center sits between Lake Saracen and Lake Langhofer. Native fish can be seen in our 20,000-gallon aquarium as well as native reptiles and some amazing birds of prey housed at the facility.
“While walking out on the trails you can watch for a large variety of birds, mammals, reptiles and insects as well as the many interesting and beautiful species of native plants. Delta Rivers Nature Center is a little bit museum, aquarium, laboratory, nature store, hiking trail, bird-watching facility, wildlife photography location and environmental education facility all rolled into one location.”
