July 7, 2003

Mississippi's National Wildlife Refuges
by James L. Cummins

Last week, we learned about the National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) system and its centennial. This week, we will explore Mississippi's NWRs.

The NWR System in Mississippi has 13 NWRs comprising 220,000 acres. The first NWR in the state was the Yazoo NWR; it was established in 1936. The refuge is located 25 miles south of Greenville and encompasses 13,000 acres. The area primarily contains bottomland hardwoods. The next NWR to be established was Noxubee NWR located south of Starkville. It contains 48,000 acres of bottomland and upland habitats.

In 1975, the Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR and Hillside NWR were established. The Mississippi Sandhill Crane NWR, located north of Gautier, is comprised of 19,000 acres. The area was established to protect the endangered Mississippi sandhill crane. Hillside NWR encompasses 15,000 acres and is located north of Yazoo City.

Morgan Break NWR, located in west central Mississippi, was established in 1977 and encompasses 7,400 acres. The area was established to protect bottomland hardwoods. In 1978, Panther Swamp NWR, which is comprised of 38,500 acres of mature bottomland hardwoods, was established. Matthews Brake NWR was established in 1980 and encompasses approximately 2,418 acres. It is located 5 miles west of Sidon. In 1981, Bogue Chitto NWR was established and encompasses 37,500 acres in Louisiana and Mississippi and is located north of Slidell, Louisiana.

There have been additions to the NWR System in the past few years. Dahomey, Tallahatchie, St. Catherine Creek, Grand Bay and Coldwater River NWRs are all new additions to the state NWR System. Dahomey NWR, located south of Cleveland, was established from an original tract of 9,269 acres. The Tallahatchie NWR is found nine miles west of Holcomb and encompasses 4,083 acres. St. Catherine Creek NWR, located south of Natchez, contains 26,000 acres of cypress swamps and hardwoods. Grand Bay NWR is located east of Pascagoula and contains lands both in Mississippi and Alabama and with all land acquisitions complete, will encompass approximately 32,000 acres. The last of the Mississippi NWRs is Coldwater River. Coldwater River NWR was established in 2000 and is located south of the town of Crowder and encompasses 2,069 acres.

From its humble beginnings, through the early turbulent years, the NWR System has shown to be very successful. President Theodore Roosevelt could not have possibly imagined the vastness of the NWR System as it exists today. It is hoped that the future will hold the addition of even more lands into the system to help conserve America's fish and wildlife resources while providing significant opportunities for hunting, fishing and wildlife-associated recreation.

James L. Cummins is Executive Director of the Mississippi Fish and Wildlife Foundation in Stoneville, Mississippi. Known as "Wildlife Mississippi," the Foundation is a non-profit, conservation organization founded to conserve, restore and enhance fish, wildlife and plant resources throughout Mississippi