Mile 275.0 - Miles 275-270: LBD Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge

275 - 270 LBD Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge

Paddlers have a unique opportunity to walk up to one of the largest and oldest trees in the south, the co-champion bald cypress of North America. If the river is high you can paddle all the way, but it will have to be bank full 30BG or higher. If it is below 30BG you will have to make a landing somewhere and walk. One of the best places to make a quick stop and hide your vessel is within the shady overhanging trees at the mouth of Hardwick’s Ditch at 272.4 left bank descending.

Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge is home to the largest tree of any species east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. At an impressive height of 96 feet, a diameter of 17 feet and a circumference of 56 feet, it is truly a sight to behold. The tree is estimated to be approximately 1,500 years old. Visitors may view the tree by way of the Big Cypress Trail, a .75 mile round-trip trail through a unique mixture of bottomland hardwood forest on flat terrain.

Cypress-Tupelo Swamp

Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge has nearly 3,000 acres of cypress-tupelo swamp habitat. These areas consist of bald cypress and water tupelo trees, and because they are found in low-lying sites they may remain flooded often times all year. Thus, these trees have adapted to withstand long durations of flooding. They also provide good habitat for wading bird nesting colonies, cavities for bats to roost, and cavities for wood duck, hooded mergansers and prothonotary warblers. Because these trees are found in low-lying areas, many of these sites have not been harvested for timber, allowing many of the cypress trees to become large. Many of the cypress trees on Cat Island are several hundred years old.

Bottomland Hardwood Forests

Bottomland hardwoods are forests that are composed of hardwood tree species such as oak, elm, and hickory that thrive in lowland habitats, typically along river systems. These forests are highly diverse in species and very productive. Hardwood forests provide great quality habitat for white-tailed deer, waterfowl, crawfish, wading birds, and forest songbirds. Predominant hardwood species on Cat Island include green ash, water hickory, Nuttall oak, overcup oak, and sugarberry.

Wading Birds

Flooding by the Mississippi River provides abundant food resources for wading birds at Cat Island NWR. As the river recedes, fish are restocked within drains and sloughs across the floodplain. As these wetlands dry, food resources become concentrated, providing good foraging habitat. Species commonly observed on the refuge include great blue herons, great egrets, snowy egrets, and white ibises. Less common, but occasionally seen are little blue herons, tricolored herons, cattle egrets, green herons, black-crowned night herons, yellow-crowned night herons, roseate spoonbills, and wood stork.

Because of its location within the Lower Mississippi River Alluvial Valley, and its forested habitat, Cat Island NWR provides good quality migration stopover and wintering grounds for mallards, green-winged teal, gadwall, and American wigeon. Wood ducks and hooded mergansers are year-round residents whose breeding populations are augmented in the winter by migrants from further north. As river levels increase and flood the refuge, waterfowl will utilize acorns and insects throughout the forest. Flooded forested habitat also provides thermal cover in mid-winter and pair bonding areas during early spring.