Refuge News

USFWS employees from the Prvt. John Allen Fish Hatchery in Tupelo, Mississippi prepare to release a female alligator gar on St. Catherine Creek National Wildlife Refuge as part of an on-going captive breeding program. Females are taken from the refuge to the fish hatchery for captive breeding. They are then tagged and returned to the refuge. Offspring are used to reintroduce the species into areas where populations have been depleted.

 

Refuge staff and volunteers have completed a 3.6 mile limestone walking trail, known as the Magnolia Trail. Interpretive signs and benches have been placed at various points along the trail. In June 2005, the Secretary of the Interior designated it as a National Recreation Trail. Highlights of the trail include a cypress overlook, observation area, and a photography/wildlife observation blind located adjacent to a rookery.