Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge [SEP] inception
Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge
Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1988 to protect the Mississippi/Red River floodplain ecosystem. The refuge is located in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, east central Louisiana. The refuge is named for its most prominent water body, the Lake Ophelia that was at one time a channel of the nearby Red River of the South.
Habitat.
The land surrounding Lake Ophelia was once part of a vast bottomland hardwood forest that stretched along the Mississippi River. Much of this forestland, including
swamp forests. Today, only of wetland forests remain, most as islands in a sea of agriculture. Gone from Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge are the Florida panther and red wolf, lost forever are the ivory-billed woodpecker and Backman's warbler.
Management.
Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge is actively managed as part of the "Central Louisiana Refuges Complex", along with Catahoula National Wildlife Refuge and the Complex headquarters at Grand Cote National Wildlife Refuge, to provide a diverse habitats for the myriad of animal species that