Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge

Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1992 to protect some of the last remaining, least-disturbed bottomland hardwood forest tracts in the Lower Mississippi Valley. These wooded wetlands, oxbow lakes, brakes, sloughs, and bayous, are inhabited seasonally by over 150 species of migratory birds, including forest-breeding birds, water birds, and waterfowl. The 15,155-acre (61.33 km2) refuge is located in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Vidalia, Louisiana. It is named for the state-designated scenic river which runs through its center. The Nature Conservancy purchased an 11,403-acre (46.15 km2) core tract in 1991 from the Fisher Lumber Company, a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation. The Conservancy then sold the land to the US Fish and Wildlife Service over a span of five years. Hoover Slough unit was later added to the refuge. The bottomland hardwoods at Bayou Cocodrie have been noted as some of the last remaining, least disturbed timber of what historically was once a vast hardwood forest along the Mississippi River from Illinois to Louisiana. The refuge is part of a forested wildlife corridor used by Louisiana black bear