The Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex is the largest refuge complex in the state of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Over 100,000 acres (400 km²) of refuge lands on seven refuges, including 13,000 acres (53 km²) of refuge-managed Farmers Home Administration lands, provide vital habitat for fish and wildlife in the Delta region. The complex includes seven refuges: * Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge - Established 1936 * Hillside National Wildlife Refuge - Established 1975 *

Morgan Brake National Wildlife Refuge Morgan Brake National Wildlife Refuge is one of seven refuges in the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex. In addition to the typical bottomland habitats of the Mississippi Delta, Morgan Brake National Wildlife Refuge includes a u ...

- Established 1977 *

Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is one of seven refuges in the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex in Mississippi. Established in 1978, Panther Swamp National Wildlife Refuge encompasses . Included in those acres is one of ...

- Established 1978 * Mathews Brake National Wildlife Refuge - Established 1980 * Holt Collier National Wildlife Refuge - Established 2004 * Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge - Established 2004 The Headquarters Office for Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex is located on Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge.

History

In January 2004, the Consolidated Appropriations Act changed the name of the Central Mississippi Refuges Complex to Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The legislation established two new refuges in the Complex – Holt Collier NWR and Theodore Roosevelt NWR, and included provisions to design and construct the Holt Collier Environmental Education and Interpretation Center in the south Delta region. The two new refuges were named to honor President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and the legendary African-American sportsman and hunting guide,

Holt Collier Holt Collier (c. 1848 – August 1, 1936) was a noted African-American bear hunter and sportsman. While leading a hunt for U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt in November 1902, Collier unwittingly set the stage for the event that originated Roose ...

Topography

Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex manages approximately 42,000 acres (170 km²) of bottomland hardwood forest in the Mississippi Delta region. Refuge staff have reforested an additional 25,000 acres (100 km²) of former agricultural land, bringing the Complex's total area of bottomland forest to 67,000 acres (270 km²). More than 60 species of trees are known to occur on the Complex. The lowest areas on refuge lands contain

bald cypress ''Taxodium distichum'' (bald cypress, swamp cypress; french: cyprès chauve; ''cipre'' in Louisiana) is a deciduous conifer in the family Cupressaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States. Hardy and tough, this tree adapts to a wide ...

, buttonbush, and water tupelo, except on Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge, where water tupelo does not occur. Other woody species in permanent or semi-permanent flooded areas include

swamp privet A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

, water elm, black willow and

water locust ''Gleditsia aquatica'', commonly called water locust or swamp locust after its habitat of river swamps and slough margins, is a tree native to the Southeastern United States and adjacent regions. Description ''Gleditsia aquatica'' often grows 50 ...

. Prior to European settlement, the Lower

Mississippi Valley The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...

was covered with over 24 million acres (97,000 km²) of

bottomland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

hardwood forest that supported a rich diversity of fish and wildlife species. Historically, the dominant forest type was oak-gum-cypress.

Canebrakes A canebrake or canebreak is a thicket of any of a variety of ''Arundinaria'' grasses: '' A. gigantea'', '' A. tecta'' and '' A. appalachiana''. As a bamboo, these giant grasses grow in thickets up to 24 ft tall. ''A. gigantea'' is generally ...

covered the broader flats on slightly higher ground, forming extensive nearly pure stands beneath huge bottomland hardwood trees. Settlers began clearing the forest in the early 19th century. Today more than 75% of the forest coverage has been lost to land clearing operations for agriculture, transportation, industrialization, and urbanization. The remaining 4.8 million acres (19,000 km²) of forest are isolated islands of habitat surrounded by cotton, corn, rice, and bean fields. Most of the surviving forests now occupy low ground dominated by water tolerant species.

References

External links

Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex homepage

FWS profile of Theodore Roosevelt NWR
{{authority control National Wildlife Refuges in Mississippi

History

Topography

See also

References

External links