Cat Island is a

barrier island Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a ...

off the

Gulf Coast of the United States The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Missi ...

, one of the Mississippi–Alabama barrier islands. The island's name comes from French explorers who mistook

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

s (which were not introduced to Europe until the 20th century) for cats. It is unknown who discovered Cat Island. It is within the jurisdiction of Harrison County, Mississippi. The western half and southern tip of the island is part of the

Gulf Islands National Seashore Gulf Islands National Seashore offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. The protected regions include mainland areas and parts of seven i ...

Formation and history

Cat Island is a unique "T-shaped" island created by colliding

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

currents. Unlike the other Mississippi islands, Cat Island's sand beaches are backed by dense forests of slash pines and live oaks. Due to the

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

of the Gulfport ship channel, however, Cat Island has lost its natural westward flow of sediment which provided material for the island to combat erosion.

Bayou In usage in the Southern United States, a bayou () is a body of water typically found in a flat, low-lying area. It may refer to an extremely slow-moving stream, river (often with a poorly defined shoreline), marshy lake, wetland, or creek. They ...

s and

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found ...

es on Cat Island are home to

alligator An alligator is a large reptile in the Crocodilia order in the genus ''Alligator'' of the family Alligatoridae. The two extant species are the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') and the Chinese alligator (''A. sinensis''). Additional ...

s and refuge to

migratory bird Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting b ...

s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, the island was base for the Cat Island War Dog Reception and Training Center where Americans sent family dogs to be trained by the U.S. Army Signal Corps for military service. The dogs were trained to sniff out

Japanese American are Americans of Japanese ancestry. Japanese Americans were among the three largest Asian American ethnic communities during the 20th century; but, according to the 2000 census, they have declined in number to constitute the sixth largest Asi ...

s because of the belief that those of Japanese ethnicity had a distinct odor. This particular experiment was totally unsuccessful though dogs proved effective as an aid to sentries and advance scouts. This period of the island's history was featured on a June 2009 episode of the PBS series '' History Detectives''. The western half and southern tip of the island became part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore in 2002. The remainder of the island, including most of the beach, is still privately owned. The eastern beach is owned by BP, who purchased it in April 2011 to use in assisting cleanup of the 2010 ''Deepwater Horizon'' oil spill. In December 2016 Mississippi acquired the 492 acres that BP had purchased from the Brodie family in 2011. This section of East Beach was added to the Cat Island Coastal Preserve. In 2005

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

shrank the island by eliminating the southern tip. During the foul weather associated with

Hurricane Patricia Hurricane Patricia was the strongest tropical cyclone on record worldwide in terms of wind speed and the second-most intense on record worldwide in terms of pressure, behind Typhoon Tip in 1979, with a minimum atmospheric pressure of 872 mbar ( ...

a commercial fisherman reported abundant redfish in the flooded bayous of the island.Schindler, Sonny. (27 October 2015). "Outdoors Report:Flooded grass reds". Clarion Ledger. (Jackson). Retrieved 27 October 2015
Clarion Ledger website
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References

External links

* * * {{authority control Barrier islands of Mississippi Landforms of Harrison County, Mississippi Gulf Islands National Seashore Beaches of Mississippi

Formation and history

See also

References

Further reading

External links