Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area is a 122,098-acre tract of protected area located in parts of Ascension, Livingston, St. John the Baptist, St. James and

Tangipahoa The Tangipahoa were a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe that lived just north of Lake Pontchartrain and between the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and the Mississippi River. Etymology The name Tangip ...

Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es,

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

encircling three sides of

Lake Maurepas Lake Maurepas ( ; french: Lac Maurepas) is located in southeastern Louisiana, approximately halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, directly west of Lake Pontchartrain. Toponymy Lake Maurepas was named for Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, com ...

History

In 2001 the

Richard King Mellon Richard King Mellon (June 19, 1899 – June 3, 1970), commonly known as R.K., was an American financier, general, and philanthropist from Ligonier, Pennsylvania, and part of the Mellon family. Biography The son of Richard B. Mellon, nephew of ...

Foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

donated 61,633 acres to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries (LDWF). Between 2002 and 2012 another 12,000 acres was added to the WMA. In 2011 the Land Trust for Louisiana and the National Audubon Society partnered to permanently protect 675 acres of critical migratory bird habitat near the town of

Maurepas Maurepas may refer to: * Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, Count of Maurepas, French statesman Count of Maurepas (Yvelines) * Fort Maurepas, also known as Old Biloxi, a settlement in Louisiana (New France) * Maurepas, Louisiana, an unincorporated comm ...

. In 2012 the LDWF, along with the Entergy Charitable Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation added 400 acres to the WMA. M.C. Davis sold 29,630 to the Conservation Fund in 2012. The Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority's (CPRA) Coastal Protection and Restoration Initiative provided $4.5 million and the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Foundation (LWFF) provided $2 million to purchase the land, known as the "MC Davis tract", that joined the existing east and west WMA together. A result of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill was a partial settlement between MOEX and the

United States Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

, that resulted in the state receiving $6.75 million in Clean Water Act penalty money. This was used to purchase 11,145 acres of forested wetlands located on the north side of the lake.

Flora

The WMA has Bull Tongue,

cattail ''Typha'' is a genus of about 30 species of monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Typhaceae. These plants have a variety of common names, in British English as bulrush or reedmace, in American English as reed, cattail, or punks, in ...

, submerged aquatics,

red maple ''Acer rubrum'', the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant nativ ...

American elm ''Ulmus americana'', generally known as the American elm or, less commonly, as the white elm or water elm, is a species of elm native to eastern North America, naturally occurring from Nova Scotia west to Alberta and Montana, and south to F ...

, sugarberry, Nutall oak,

water oak ''Quercus nigra'', the water oak, is an oak in the red oak group (''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae''), native to the eastern and south-central United States, found in all the coastal states from New Jersey to Texas, and inland as far as Oklahoma, Ken ...

, obtusa oak, tupelo gum yssa sylvatica and bald cypress axodium distichum Invasive species of fern-leaved beggarticks idens ferulifolia alligator weed lternanthera philoxeroides water hyacinth ichhornia crassipes and common salvinia alvinia minimahave overgrown parts of the WMA, requiring controlling action.LDWF: Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area
Retrieved 2017-03-20

References

{{Reflist Wildlife management areas of the United States Wildlife management areas of Louisiana Protected areas of Louisiana Geography of Ascension Parish, Louisiana Geography of St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana Geography of St. James Parish, Louisiana Geography of Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana

History

Flora

See also

References