Wildlife Management Areas, Refuges, and Conservation Areas
Louisiana’s WMAs, refuges, and conservation areas offer great outdoor activities. Whether you’re a hunter, an angler, or a nature-lover, following a few simple rules can help ensure that your visit is safe, legal, and helps protect our beautiful natural resources. Click below for information on what you should know before you go. Enjoy your visit!
LDWF maintains more than 1.6 million acres of Louisiana’s land and waterways as wildlife management areas, refuges, and conservation areas. With a variety of habitats including upland pine-hardwood, cypress tupelo, pine savanna, bottomland hardwood, and brackish marsh, these areas are home to every game animal and freshwater and saltwater fish within the state, as well as rare plant communities and habitat types and important species such as the Louisiana black bear, red-cockaded woodpecker, and gopher tortoise.
LDWF manages these areas not only to conserve the state’s wildlife and fisheries resources and their habitat but also to provide the public with an array of outdoor recreational opportunities, from hunting, including lottery hunts, and fishing to canoeing, hiking, ATV riding, and birding. We encourage all Louisiana’s citizens and visitors to get out and enjoy these resources and opportunities. Note that LDWF licenses and permits are required for many activities on Louisiana’s public lands. See profiles of individual public lands below and LDWF's seasons and regulations for more information.
Wildlife Management Areas
Refuges
| Refuge | Parish(es) |
|---|---|
| Elmer’s Island Wildlife Refuge | Jefferson |
| Isle Dernieres Barrier Islands Wildlife Refuge | Terrebonne |
| Marsh Island Wildlife Refuge | Iberia |
| Queen Bess Island Wildlife Refuge | Jefferson |
| Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge | Cameron, Vermilion |
| St. Tammany Wildlife Refuge | St. Tammany |
| State Wildlife Refuge | Vermilion |
| Waddill Wildlife Refuge | East Baton Rouge |
Conservation Areas
| Conservation Area | Parish(es) |
|---|---|
| White Lake Wetlands Conservation Area | Vermilion |
| Ben Lilly Conservation Area | Morehouse |
Management
Forest Management
LDWF is responsible for the rehabilitation and stewardship of the forest resources and associated wildlife habitat on LDWF-owned WMAs. LDWF manages timber to improve wildlife habitat, maintain habitat diversity within WMAs, provide recreational opportunities for various users, and grow high quality, healthy forests.
To accomplish these tasks, staff evaluate current habitat conditions for each LDWF-owned WMA. They measure and classify trees, evaluate how sunlight penetrates the over-, mid-, and understory vegetation, determine the forest type, and sample understory and ground vegetation. They use all of this information to develop forest management plans, or prescriptions, for each WMA to insure forested habitat is properly managed. Forestry management prescriptions propose methods to improve and maintain wildlife habitat while providing quality recreational opportunities and growing healthy timber resources for the long-term. Methods typically include timber harvesting, reforestation, research, and monitoring.
Each prescription includes a description of the area to be addressed within each WMA, the current condition of each forest type found within the area, the soil types and hydrology of the area, and wildlife habitat conditions. Prescriptions also include management objectives and concerns, as well as how these concerns will be addressed to enhance or sustain the forest and wildlife habitat.
Master Plan
LDWF has developed a master plan to guide the conservation of the state’s public lands, with respect to managing the current network of lands and highlighting opportunities to enhance this network in the future.