Efforts to create a new industry in the Northeast Louisiana Delta region based on development of marginal farmlands for tourism and wildlife, took a step forward last month at a meeting in Rayville.

The April 26 meeting was a follow-up to a larger one held in Delhi in March, at which the prospects were discussed for turning marginal lands currently unprofitable for farming into wildlife habitat. The program is coordinated by the Louisiana AgCenter, the LSU-based organization which operates agricultural education, research, and economic development through the Cooperative Extension Service with branches in each of the 64 Louisiana Parishes.

A few more than 100 landowners and managers attended the March meeting in Delhi. Twenty-five met in Rayville to get to the next level, of setting goals, and deciding to establish a permanent organization.

Keynote speaker at the Rayville meeting was Leanore Barkley, director of the Vicksburg, Mississippi Visitor and Tourism Bureau. She outlined methods for developing regional tourism, detailing the growth enjoyed by the city located on the Mississippi river adjacent to the Louisiana border.

When she began work with the Bureau 24 years ago, Ms. Barkley said, there was not even a brochure to give to visitors listing visitor opportunities. In 1972, the Bureau succeeded in passing a one per cent tourism service tax, to finance operation of the Bureau and support promotion of the area. During the first year, the tax yielded $45,000, she said. Last year, the tourism tax revenue was $790,000, indicating the huge increase in tourism, and affording funds for continuing promotion.

Howard Gryder, recently retired agent with the LSU AgCenter, pointed to the need for a new source of revenue from land in the Delta - the area generally lying between the Ouachita and Mississippi rivers in Northeast Louisiana.
"When I came to the area in 1969," Gryder said, "I made one trip through the area passing miles of hardwood timber pushed over and burning, to make way for planting soybeans." Smoke from the fires was so think, cars had to use headlights to make their way through.

Soybeans were at $10 a bushel, and seemed headed for $12. Hundreds of acres were put into soybean production, and today, the price is at $4 to $5 - not sufficient to pay costs.

Speaking of the need to establish a region-wide marketing program for new uses of land, Gryder said, "The easy part is over. If we don't stand together as rural parishes, we will fall, one by one.
During a series of focus groups meetings, the landowner group discussed organization, and plans for marketing of tourism opportunities already existing in the area, and for developing new opportunities.

Development priorities include hunting of deer, ducks and geese, fishing, nature watching, and other activities for groups and individuals.

Landowners and others interested in participating in the development may contact Steven Hotard, area agent, Calhoun Extension Office, 505 Highway 80 East, Calhoun, LA 71225, telephone 318-644-5865.