Parks around Saint Francisville

Cat Island National Wildlife Refuge was established on October 27, 2000 as the 526th refuge in the National Wildlife Refuge System. It is located near the town of St. Francisville, Louisiana, which is 30 miles north of Baton Rouge. The refuge was established to conserve, restore, and manage native forested wetland habitats for migratory birds, aquatic resources, and endangered and threatened plant...

Louisiana's Old River is a distinctive river with a remarkable history. Fifty miles northwest of Baton Rouge, it connects the Atchafalaya and Mississippi Rivers. It was once a part of the Mississippi and would have long ceased to exist had it not been for man. At one time, the Mississippi attempted to divert most of its flow through Old River and down the Atchafalaya. The Old River Lock was bu...

Atchafalaya NWR, about 30 miles west of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and one mile east of Krotz Springs, Louisiana lies just east of the Atchafalaya River. The refuge was established in 1986 to provide for 1) conservation and management of all fish and wildlife within the refuge, 2) to fulfill the international treaty obligations of the United States with respect to fish and wildlife, and 3) to provide...

Lake Ophelia NWR (named for the largest water body in the area) was established in 1988 to protect the important Mississippi/Red River floodplain ecosystem. The refuge was once part of a vast bottomland hardwood wilderness. Levees have changed hydrology, but the underlying ridge/Saale topography supports a variety of habitat types. Bottomland hardwood forest, croplands, fallow fields, moist soil u...

The project encompasses 595,000 acres of the largest contiguous tract of bottomland hardwoods in the United States. The Atchafalaya Basin is a scenic semi-wilderness area of hardwood forests, cypress stands, marshes and bayous. It is one of the last great river swamps left in the nation. The Atchafalaya River and hundreds of miles of bayous bring life to this wilderness area.

St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge was established in January 1990 to preserve, improve and create habitat for waterfowl. Intensive management programs on the refuge provide excellent winter habitat and resting areas for waterfowl in the Lower Mississippi River Valley. Encompassing nearly 26,000 acres, with a potential size of 34,256 acres, the refuge is located in Adams County in s...

Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1989 to provide valuable waterfowl habitat in the Mississippi/Red River floodplain as part of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. The 6,000 acre refuge is located in Avoyelles Parish outside of Marksville, Louisiana. Prior to clearing, this productive bottomland hardwood ecosystem provided ideal habitat for forest wildlife, but the...

Filled with sites sharing history with both the early Chickasaw inhabitants and the later Civil War, each mile along this historic route is well worth the drive. History and outdoor adventure await you along the Natchez Trace through the striking expanses of the Homochitto and Tombigbee National Forests in Mississippi.

Throughout history, Natchez has always been a place of opportunity and is evident throughout Natchez National Historical Park. From the magnificent antebellum estate of John McMurran, to the downtown home of African American barber and diarist William Johnson, to the French Fort Rosalie, this diverse Mississippi River town has lent itself to opportunity.

The Nature Conservancy purchased an 11,255.51-acre core tract from the Fisher Lumber Company, a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation. The Conservancy then sold the land to the USFWS over a span of 5 years. Cocodrie Bayou is designated as a state scenic river. The bottomland hardwoods at Bayou Cocodrie NWR have been noted as some of the last remaining, least disturbed timber in the Missis...

Ouachita-Black Rivers System in AR and LA has four locks and dams. There are boat ramps and picnicking facilities on the river. The Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge is located along the river near the AR and LA border.

Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge, located in east central Louisiana, 12 miles east of Jena, was established in 1958 as a wintering area for migratory waterfowl. The refuge contains 25,162 acres divided into two units. The 6,671 acre Headquarters Unit borders nine miles of the northeast shore of Catahoula Lake, a 26,000 acre natural wetland renowned for its large concentrations of migratory wat...

Bayou Teche National Wildlife Refuge, established in 2001, is located in St. Mary Parish in southeast Louisiana. The 9,028 acre refuge is composed of wet bottomland hardwood laced with bayous and canals. The primary mission of the refuge is to preserve and manage habitat for the threatened Louisiana black bear. Other objectives are to provide habitat for other fish and wildlife species, environmen...

Over the years, the Bonnet Carre Spillway has developed into an extensively used outdoor recreation area with approximately 250,000 visitors enjoying the spillway each year. These lands and waters provide opportunities for fishing, crawfishing, hunting, dog training, camping and wildlife watching. More specialized activities include retriever dog field trials and model airplane flying competitio...

Red River Waterway, LA, now known as the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway, contains five locks and dams on the Red River. The project is operated by the Corps of Engineers and the Red River Waterway Commission. There are fishing, boating, picnicking, and bird watching opportunities at the recreation areas. Many recreation areas are still being developed and two visitor centers are planned.

There are many recreational activities throughout the Kisatchie National Forest.  Click on the "Find an Area" tab to the right of the screen and select the District you are interested in to see what they have to offer. Fishing and Hunting on the Kisatchie National Forest is in a setting with some of Louisiana's most beautiful landscapes. The regulations for Louisiana Hunting and Fishing are applie...

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...

The Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge was established through Public Law 96-285 on June 28, 1980 to preserve one of the largest privately owned tracts of bottomland hardwoods remaining in the Mississippi Delta. The bottomland hardwood forest contains a diversity of plant and animal species. Over 400 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish can be found on the refuge. The re...

Big Branch Marsh National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in October 1994, and is comprised of 15,000 acres of coastal marsh and pine forested wetlands. Of this total, the Conservation Fund has donated over 10,000 acres to the Service from Richard King Mellon Foundation funds. The purpose of the refuge is to protect some of the only Lake Pontchartrain shoreline that exists in its natural s...

Ouachita-Black Rivers System in AR and LA has four locks and dams. There are boat ramps and picnicking facilities on the river. The Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge is located along the river near the AR and LA border.

Mandalay National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1996, is located in Terrebonne Parish in southeast Louisiana. The 4,212 acre refuge is composed of freshwater marsh and cypress-tupelo swamp. The refuge provides excellent habitat for waterfowl, wading birds, and neotropical songbirds. Access is by boat only and foot travel is extremely difficult due to the soft marsh environment. The refuge is ope...

Pearl River, LA is a series of three locks and dams. The area is primarily for day use with boating, hunting and fishing being popular.

In Jean Lafitte's day, silver and gold filled a pirate's treasure chest, but today's treasures are people, places, and memories. Discover New Orleans' rich cultural mix. Learn Cajun traditions from people who live them. Watch an alligator bask on a bayou's bank. Walk in the footsteps of the men who fought at 1815's Battle of New Orleans. Follow the link to find out about the park's six sites.

Only in New Orleans could there be a National Park for jazz! Drop by our French Market visitor center to inquire about musical events around town. In the mood for a world class musical experience? Attend a jazz concert or ranger performance at the new state of the art performance venue in the Old U.S. Mint.

Established in 1907, Shell Keys National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is one of the oldest refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System. It is also a testimony to the fast eroding shoreline of Louisiana. Its boundary was and still is rather loosely described as "... a small group of unsurveyed islets located in the Gulf of Mexico about three and one half miles south of Marsh Island, LA, and approxim...