Common mammals include whitetail deer, red, gray and black squirrels, swamp and cottontail rabbits, bobcat, raccoon, coyote, opossum and such aquatic fur bearers as beaver, nutria, and river otter.

Common reptiles include the alligator, canebrake rattlesnake, cottonmouth water moccasin, and copperhead as well as a variety of other snakes and turtles.

Habitat includes bottomland hardwood, cypress-button bush swamp, and upland hardwoods interspersed with pine on the bluffs and hills overlooking the alluvial flood plain of the Mississippi River, which comprises three fourths of the refuge topography. The refuge has reforested over 11,000 acres of farm ground with native oaks, pecan, green ash and southern bald cypress. These reforested farm lands were once covered with mature bottomland hardwood trees that were cut down in the 1960's for agricultural purposes prior to Service ownership of the land.