When a volunteer with The TECHE Project handed me a souvenir pin stamped with an image of a chickadee last month, I knew I’d nabbed a treasure. With their black and white feathers that look like a tuxedo, chickadees are among my favorite birds.

What I like most is their spunk — how they hold their own at my birdfeeders in spite of their small size.

A fitting mascot, in other words, for The TECHE Project, which is pretty plucky itself. Since its founding in 2010, the Acadiana nonprofit has done much to advance the goals of its acronym, which stands for The Teche Ecology, Culture and History Education Project. As part of its goal to promote the preservation and enjoyment of Bayou Teche, the group helped create the Bayou Teche National Paddle Trail, which extends 135 miles through four Acad

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