Friends of the Coates Bluff Nature Trail

The Coates Bluff Nature Trail is a success story that preserves our local heritage.

It's also one of the reasons I can't imagine leaving Shreveport. As an outdoor educator, I've never seen such an ideal setting -- the trail connects four schools. (Over the past ten years, hundreds of students have spent hundreds of hours walking its woods and canoeing its waters.) As a resident, I depend on walking access to this greenspace for my well-being -- the trail connects four neighborhoods. As a citizen of the planet, I am keenly aware of how crucial these places of connection with nature are becoming --

we cannot afford to lose this inner-city treasure.

Seventy-five percent of the land in the watershed that surrounds and once buffered the trail has been cleared and developed since 2009. My dream is for the Friends of the Coates Bluff Nature Trail, 501c3 to be able to purchase the now-for-sale and last undeveloped 48 acres protecting the trail in order to create an urban nature park. (Scroll down for the design.)

Your donation will go towards the maintenance and improvement of the existing trail and the realization of that dream.

Why this land matters.

From an ecological standpoint, further development within our watershed will have devastating effects on the remaining plants and animals in the form of

stormwater runoff, sediment pollution, diversity, and habitat loss. It will also further reduce the last sliver of land that connects the woods along the bayou with those along the Red River. Two years ago, a four-point buck used this to pass safely between the two. Wildlife corridors like this one, especially those with wetlands, are becoming increasingly rare and critical across the globe.

In 2009, one hundred volunteers removed several tons of trash from the area pictured above during a community cleanup. And every year since, the signs of health have been returning.