PASCAGOULA, Miss. (WLOX) — Jackson County Recreation Department and the City of Pascagoula brought the Coast to life with Sand Jam — Forces of Nature, a hands-on event celebrating Mississippi’s native wildlife, environment and heritage.

Conservation groups met in one spot to help people understand what makes Coastal Mississippi special.

“We just want people to love the planet like we do,” said Donna Rutherford, an Audubon Delta Volunteer and Outreach Associate.

Protecting least terns

Rutherford’s work centers on protecting birds and the fragile coastal habitat they rely on.

“I feel like it is our goal as humans to be stewards of our environment, to take care of the planet and to take care of our animals; Plants and animals,” Rutherford said.

Least terns are returning to nest along the Coast, and volunteers are asking beachgoers to slow down, look closely and give them room.

“When those little babies hatch, they’re not going to stay within the parameters of the symbolic fencing, they’re gonna run on down to the shoreline, so we ask people if you could go up towards the seawall, and that way those little birds can be protected,” Rutherford said.

Researchers also band least terns, tracking where they go, how long they live and whether they return to the same nesting sites year after year.

“This helps track their migration and their longevity, and birds are very important. They’re one of our climate indicators, and I like to say if our birds are healthy, our planet is healthy, which in turn, we as humans, we’re going to be healthier,” Rutherford said.

Marine research

Ray Paul is an intern with the Marine Fisheries Ecology Program at the Mississippi State University Coastal Research Extension Center.

His research focuses on how species in the water interact and how those relationships shape the health of the entire ecosystem.

“It’s just a really cool way to connect people with some of those species that a lot of people are really interested in; they’re very charismatic, but not a lot of people get the chance to see, and very few people get the chance to work with,” Paul said.

Paul said sharing the science matters just as much as studying it.

“Just because you live here doesn’t mean you necessarily know what’s going on or have a connection to the area, and so we have a unique opportunity to connect people with an area that they might be really familiar with, but still not know a lot about,” Paul said.

Rutherford said protecting the planet starts with getting kids outside and turning curiosity into stewardship.

“If we share that love and spread that, then the children are going to learn, and they’re going to take care of our planet as well,” Rutherford said.

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