Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages Black Bayou Lake under a free 99-year lease from the city of Monroe, a unique partnership struck in 1997 that gave federal refuge status to a city-owned lake studded with cypress and tupelo. The arrangement made this one of five refuges in the North Louisiana Complex, a patch of bottomland hardwoods and swamp where alligator snapping turtles—a species that has declined drastically across most of the South—still nest along the shoreline. The lake graduates outward in ecological rings: swamps to bottomland hardwoods to upland mixed pine. Cherrybark oak, cedar elm, ash, hickories, and willow oak anchor the lower zones. Shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, mockernut hickory, and post oak hold the upland sites. Eight hundred acres of former agricultural fields have been reforested with eleven bottomland hardwood species. The refuge supports migratory waterfowl, neotropical migratory songbirds, and resident wildlife including alligators, wood ducks, bird-voiced treefrogs, banded water snakes, red-eared sliders, green herons, coyotes, skunks, and white-tailed deer. Biology professors and students from the University of Louisiana at Monroe partner with the refuge on research projects tracking fishes, reptiles, and amphibians. Annual nest surveys monitor alligator snapping turtle nesting, while reducing the raccoon population helps prevent destruction of turtle nests. A large nest box program serves prothonotary warblers and wood ducks, with wood ducks banded each year. A remnant red-cockaded woodpecker cluster lives in the small upland area on the east side. Managing for this endangered species has meant removing some hardwoods to create preferred habitat. The visitor center occupies a restored planter's house on the 40-acre Black Bayou Lake Environmental Education Center. Adjacent to it, an arboretum displays over 100 native Louisiana woody plants, and a prairie demonstration area holds native grasses and wildflowers—maintained through annual mowing or burning. A mile-long raised asphalt and boardwalk nature trail includes a 400-foot wildlife pier. The refuge offers a boat launch, amphitheater, pavilion, raised observation deck with spotting scope, and interactive visitor center exhibits. Control of exotic species is a major activity: herbicide spraying prevents water hyacinths from covering the lake, and staff work to control Chinese tallow trees invading the reforested areas. Fishing and kayaking are open year-round. The refuge sits just north of Monroe off US-165.