Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge


	Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge
	(mailing address) 61389 Hwy. 434 Lacombe, LA 70445 E-mail: boguechitto@fws.gov Phone Number: 985-882-2000
	Visit the Refuge's Web Site: http://www.fws.gov/boguechitto/	This view down a waterway is typical of Bogue Chitto NWR, a haven for migratory songbirds.

Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge
On June 30, 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed Public Law 96-288 authorizing the 40,000-acre Bogue Chitto National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Washington and St. Tammany Parishes, LA, and Pearl River County, MS. Since that time, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been acquiring bottomland hardwood habitat in the Pearl River Basin. On December 13, 1989, Congress authorized a boundary expansion for Bogue Chitto NWR that included an additional 8,400 acres of bottomland hardwoods in St. Tammany Parish. To date, some 36,447 acres have been placed under refuge management. The refuge is still in an acquisition phase.

White-tail deer, squirrel, turkey and hog hunting and fishing is offered to the public. The endangered and threatended species found on the refuge are bald eagle, ringed-sawback turtle, gopher tortoise, inflated heelsplitter mussel, and gulf sturgeon. Access is primarily by boat on the refuge's Louisiana side and road access is available on the refuge's Mississippi side. In Summer 2002, a new walking trail was unveiled on the Louisiana side of the Refuge. This 3/4 of a mile walking trail offers a unique journey into the interior of Bogue Chitto's majestic habitat.

Bogue Chitto NWR is primarily composed of bottomland hardwood habitat interlaced by the Bogue Chitto and Pearl River Systems. Numerous sloughs, bayous and lakes are located on the refuge. Water levels fluctuate by several feet from their low point in the summer to winter/spring flood stage. Over 90% of the refuge can be flooded during seasonal high river periods. The mixed hardwood forest includes water oak, overcup oak, American elm, sweetgum, and swamp red maple on higher elevations and bald cypress, tupelo gum, and swamp blackgum along the wettest areas. Mid-story in mixed hardwoods includes ironwood, arrowwood, Virginia willow and reproduction of the overstory. Typical mid-story plants along the sloughs and bayous are buttonbush, swamp privet, and water elm.

Getting There . . .
Bogue Chitto NWR is located about 45 miles north of New Orleans, LA. To reach the southern tip of the refuge, take I-59 N to Pearl River Turnaround exit or take Highway 41 north of Slidell and access the refuge at Locks 1, 2, & 3. To access the Mississippi side of the refuge take I-59 N to the Picayune, MS exit. For further directions, please call Southeast Louisiana Refuges at 985-882-2000.

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The refuge is home to hundreds of bird species. The most abudant species are the neotropical migrants. Some neotropical migrants found on the refuge are: Prothonotary and Swainson's Warblers, Flycatchers, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, and White-eyed Vireo. In smaller numbers found on the refuge are migratory game birds such as woodcock and turkey, wading birds such as egrets and herons, waterfowl such as wood duck, and raptors such as hawks and owls.

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Some management goals we are trying to achieve at Bogue Chitto NWR are preservation, enhancement, endangered species management, environmental education, and compatible wildlife-oriented recreation. The refuge management program to date has centered on basic resource protection and management through law enforcement, resource inventory, forest management, and administration of a highly popular public use program.

The public use program on the refuge provides for continuing traditional uses of the swamp, such as hunting, fishing, and primitive camping. With Bogue Chitto NWR composed primarily of bottomland hardwood habitat with a limited amount of upland pine forests, forest management is usually at the forefront of our management activities. One way we achieve a vibrant habitat on Bogue Chitto NWR is through Forest Stand Improvement. This involves thinning out of undesirable species by timber harvest or herbicides. There is also some reforestation of long leaf pine and mixed hardwood species.

There is also an intensive prescribed burning program that takes place on Bogue Chitto NWR. One reason we do prescribed burning is so that the vegetation can grow back more full and lush, and to get rid of the undesirable understory. However, one of the main reasons we do prescribed burning on Bogue Chitto is to provide foraging habitat for the threatened gopher tortoise found on the refuge. The gopher toroiste needs low grassy ground cover to thrive, and prescribed burning accomplishes this. Prescribed burning also provides new nutient-rich grasses through succession.