Mathews Brake National Wildlife Refuge encompasses in west-central

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

. Established in 1980, the refuge is one of seven national wildlife refuges in the

Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex The Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge Complex is the largest refuge complex in the state of Mississippi. Over 100,000 acres (400 km2) of refuge lands on seven refuges, including 13,000 acres (53 km2) of refuge-managed Farme ...

. The primary habitat feature is Mathews Brake, the largest brake (natural wooded

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

area) in

Leflore County Leflore County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,339. The county seat is Greenwood. The county is named for Choctaw leader Greenwood LeFlore, who signed a treaty to cede his pe ...

. Each winter the brake provides habitat for over 30,000 ducks. Neotropical migratory birds use the refuge during migration seasons throughout the year. The refuge supports about 200 species of migratory birds, including priority species such as the

prothonotary warbler The prothonotary warbler (''Protonotaria citrea'') is a small songbird of the New World warbler family. It is named for its plumage, which resembles the yellow robes once worn by papal clerks (named prothonotaries) in the Roman Catholic Church. ...

. This little cavity nester is a species of concern in other areas, but has plenty of habitat around the wooded waters of Mathews Brake. Refuge staff manage the water level in the brake to promote moist-soil plants and to sustain

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

trees around the edges for migratory birds. Other habitat types include of bottomland hardwoods and of young

hardwood Hardwood is wood from Flowering plant, angiosperm trees. These are usually found in broad-leaved temperate and tropical forests. In temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostl ...

plantations.

Hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

are the most popular programs on the refuge.

References

Refuge website
{{authority control National Wildlife Refuges in Mississippi Protected areas of Leflore County, Mississippi Protected areas established in 1980 Wetlands of Mississippi Landforms of Leflore County, Mississippi