Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge

Description:

The Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge was established through Public Law 96-285 on June 28, 1980 to preserve one of the largest privately owned tracts of bottomland hardwoods remaining in the Mississippi Delta. The bottomland hardwood forest contains a diversity of plant and animal species. Over 400 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish can be found on the refuge. The refuge consists of nearly 70,000 acres of bottomland hardwoods and oxbow lakes. This type of habitat once covered 25 million acres of the Mississippi Alluvial Valley.

Resting and feeding habitat for thousands of migrating and wintering waterfowl are provided by the refuge. The state*s largest population of the federally-listed threatened Louisiana black bear is found on the refuge. The last citing of the ivory-billed woodpecker, which is thought to be extinct by most scientists, occurred in the 1940's adjacent to what is now the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge.