Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge was established on January 4, 1994 with an initial purchase of . Since that time, the refuge has acquired additional acreage which now totals . The primary purpose of establishing this refuge is to protect a portion of the

bottomland Upland and lowland are conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level. In studies of the ecology of freshwater rivers, habitats are classified as upland or lowland. Definitions Upland and lowland are portions of p ...

hardwood forest ecosystem along the Trinity River located in southeastern

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The refuge, which is a remnant of what was once a much larger natural area is a broad flat

floodplain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river which stretches from the banks of its channel to the base of the enclosing valley walls, and which experiences flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudi ...

made up of numerous sloughs, oxbow lakes, artesian wells, and tributaries.

References

Refuge website
National Wildlife Refuges in Texas Protected areas established in 1994 Protected areas of Liberty County, Texas Wetlands of Texas Landforms of Liberty County, Texas 1994 establishments in Texas {{Texas-protected-area-stub