Strolling through four ecosystems on over a mile of boardwalks through Tickfaw State Park, visitors can experience the sights and sounds of a cypress/tupelo swamp, a bottom-land hardwood forest, a mixed pine/hardwood forest and the Tickfaw River. Snowy Egrets and Great Blue Herons can be seen gathering crawfish and other food amid a mix of palmetto, wax myrtle and native azalea. Sightings of turtles, snakes, squirrels, opossums, songbirds, wild turkeys, and migratory waterfowl, as well as tracks of beaver, coyote, deer, fox, and racoons, offer close encounters with wildlife less than an hour from Louisiana's capital city.

The adventurous can explore the park's 1,200 acres that include backwater swamps and dark-watered sloughs that form the wetland network created by the Tickfaw River.

• Take a ranger-led canoe tour to learn about the four local ecosystems.
• Explore the boardwalk nature trails.
• Watch for Snowy Egrets and Great Blue Herons gathering crawfish and other food amid a mix of palmetto, wax myrtle and native azalea.