Refuge Manager
1505 Sand Bluff Road
Ripley, TN 38063
Phone (901)635-7621
Fax (901)635-7621
EMail r4rw_tn.rlf@fws.gov

Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge lies adjacent to the Mississippi River and is bisected by the Hatchie River. The Refuge provides critically important habitat for wood ducks, neotropical migratory birds, fall migrating shorebirds, and wintering waterfowl, particularly mallards. The Refuge also supports numerous passerines, raptors, wading birds, deer, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish.

The Refuge's primary purposes are to be a sanctuary for migratory birds, and to preserve a representative portion of the fast vanishing bottomland hardwood forests as habitat for wintering waterfowl and other migratory birds. Habitats found on the Refuge include oxbows, cypress swamps, lakes, bottomland hardwood forests, grasslands, upland forests, and agricultural lands. Developed impoundments adjacent to the Mississippi River are managed for ducks, geese, and shorebirds.

Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this 7,394 acre Refuge serves as a resting and wintering area for migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, neotropical songbirds, and raptors. Wet bottomland hardwood forests were originally created and continue to be maintained by annual flooding of the Mississippi and Hatchie Rivers. Ducks, geese, and other waterbirds travel hundreds of miles to use the bottomland hardwood forests and man-made wetlands made lush through water manipulation.

Mallards, gadwalls, teals, pintails, Canada geese, and snow geese are the primary waterfowl species wintering on the Refuge. Waterfowl population use multiplies by the tens of thousands during the spring and fall migrations. Approximately 200 species of game birds and songbirds nest on the refuge in the summer.

Several areas provide excellent opportunities for bird watching in habitats ranging from mature bottomland hardwood forest stands along the Hatchie River to dry upland forests and wetlands. The endangered interior least terns are found nesting on the sand bars of the Mississippi River during the spring and summer. Bald eagles frequent the Refuge during the winter. Mississippi kites, red-tailed hawks, and broad-winged hawks are commonly observed on the refuge.

The Refuge is also a year-round residence for the wild turkey, white-tailed deer, bobwhite, swamp rabbit, river otter, beaver, and red fox. Deer and bobwhite are commonly seen anywhere on the Refuge. Turkeys can be found nesting in the uplands, and feeding with their young in the grasslands and bottomland hardwood forests. River otters and beavers can be viewed in the Hatchie River and the Refuge wetlands.

Accessibility: The National Wildlife Refuge System is working to ensure that facilities and programs are accessible to visitors. Please contact the refuge office for information about accessibility at this unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Hikers, wildlife watchers, and photographers are welcome year-round. Several miles of graveled roads and foot trails provide opportunities to view and study wildlife and their habitats. Boating and fishing in the Hatchie River and the several lakes and ponds on the Refuge are popular activities. Year-round fishing for crappie, catfish, bass, and blue gill is allowed on the Refuge, but is subject to Tennessee state regulations.

Lower Hatchie has hunts for deer, wild turkey, squirrel, rabbit, bobwhite, raccoon, and opossum. Public hunting provides opportunities for individuals to enjoy a natural setting and take the harvestable surplus.

The Refuge maintains a nest box program for wood ducks and other cavity-nesting dependent species. In addition, forest management calls for the retention of a specified number cavity trees per acre.

Impoundments constructed in 1988 provide excellent habitat for ducks, geese, and many other wetland dependent birds moving up and down the Mississippi flyway. The construction of levees and installation of water control structures on the Refuge's wetlands and ponds allows managers the ability to manipulate water levels during critical periods of the year to provide optimal waterbird habitat. Water level control improves the growth of desirable plants and allows the wetlands to be drained for rejuvenation.

The forest management program for the Refuge is centered on reforestation of the bottomland hardwood forests that were cleared before it was purchased by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A limited amount of small clear-cuts are planned to maintain some early successional stages scattered throughout the forest. Wildlife species such as deer and some songbirds will benefit from this activity. Abundant areas of old mature forest will remain to provide habitat for species such as the swallow-tailed kite, cerulean warbler, wild turkey, hairy woodpecker, and swamp rabbit

Some areas of the Refuge are seasonally closed to visitors to protect wintering migratory birds from human disturbance during this physically stressful period.