By Hunter Cloud

The Daily Leader

Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks has new marketing branding for state parks. The announcement has been rolled out  over the last few weeks through the Mississippi State Parks social media and was made official in the MDWFP commission meeting last week.

Jeremy Bass, director of marketing at MDWFP, presented the logo during an educational session. He said the work to develop a new brand and logo started five months ago and took four months to do the work.

State Parks will be represented by a Pine Cone and the new tagline for the parks system is Find Yourself Outdoors”. The color scheme for the new logo and branding is a light blue, green and black.

“We are excited to announce the launch of a new logo. It signifies a milestone in our dedication to our state parks and the services they provide,” Bass said. “It was a long process. To celebrate our achievements and connect with people we created this logo.”

MDWFP’s mission has always been about conservation from its inception in 1932 but needed a new logo for the parks division. Bass said the work began in part because people associated the full MDWFP logo with the regulatory agency. The new logo addresses the history, goals,

purpose and emotional connection to the state parks.

The Civilian Conservation Corps first began work on state parks in 1934 with the construction of Leroy Percy State park west of Hollandale. In 1937, Leroy Percy was opened as the first state park. Since then millions of people have visited state parks around Mississippi, there are currently 20 state parks.

Bass explained their research showed the purpose of Mississippi’s State Parks is to align with the mission of conservation, unite people in the Mississippi outdoors and connect people with the outdoors. State parks goals are to be places where memories can be made with stewardship of the land and creating recreational opportunities.

MDWFP set out to understand how people felt about the state parks. They interviewed guests to gain their sense of feeling. Guests felt joy, creativity and a sense of community on visits to state parks. Bass said they started to create an image to match all of the information they had.

“Numerous sketches were created, reviewed and redesigned again. The new Mississippi State Parks logo represents a deeper connection to State Parks. Each element has its own story,” Bass said. “Shield is for the protection of our natural and cultural treasures. The fine line is where the water, land and sky meet. Pinecone represents Mississippi’s heritage with pine forests. Things may be changing but we are always in season. We hope to capture our beauty and to the agency our new logo is more than just an image. It is a promise to our state park visitors and testament to providing excellent outdoor experiences.”

MDWFP Commissioner William Mounger thanked Bass for the presentation. Mounger added the money the department received is being used well to improve state parks and put out a visual brand to match. Bass said it is indeed a new era.

Commissioner Scott Coopwood said he noticed the Mississippi State Park Facebook page was getting good traction. “Social media activity has been good. All of the things have been good,” he said.

Commission Chairman Bill Cossar said the legislature had been good to them this year by raising the funding for the department. Five parks are currently under renovations across Mississippi.

Parks Chief of Staff Brian Ferguson said $67 million is earmarked for state park projects. Many of that is being used on infrastructure projects and renovating new cabins. He said they hope to make a new request this year to continue improvements to the state parks.

Mississippi residents are additionally encouraged to fill out a survey to help shape a five year plan for recreational development in Mississippi.