Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge

[Tom Phillips*]

Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge

http://www.fws.gov/southeast/clarksriver/

Refuge Facts

Established: 1997.
Acres: 8,500.
Located in Marshall, McCracken, and Graves County, Kentucky.
Location: the refuge is located in western Kentucky between Benton and Paducah on the East Fork of the Clarks River.

Natural History

The proposed refuge area was first identified as a high priority site for protection in 1978 by the Fish and Wildlife Services Bottomland Hardwood Preservation Program. In 1991 the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources asked the Service to consider the site for protection as a unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge is the only National Wildlife Refuge located solely within the State of Kentucky.
The most significant resource values of this area are the wetland habitat complexes formed by the river, creeks, beaver ponds, and natural ponding.
This natural wetland ecosystem is relatively intact and has high wildlife habitat values, particularly for migratory birds and other species representative of bottomland hardwood systems.
The hardwood dominated forests are used as breeding, wintering, and migration habitat by many species of neotropical migratory birds.