Blue Goose ~ Day 259

February 10, 2015 ~ Madison, MS to Greenville, MS

The Nissan plant just north of Madison, Mississippi is 0.8 miles long!

When the river rises, alternative access is
parking on and walking in from the road - MS

I pretty much drove around the entire Panther Swamp NWR before actually finding the VC where I spoke with a friendly woman who explained the lay of the land here and in the other six refuges of the TR NWR Complex in Mississippi. She appreciated what I was doing on this trip and gave me a little LED flashlight "to remember us by" so, even though this seemed to be another hunter's paradise, she was kind and welcoming which ameliorated some of my fretfulness about hunting being the priority in the last several places I've visited.

She also had the large maps of all the refuges and said she "orders them by the boxful....people need to know we're out here."

In answer to the obvious question about the name, she shrugged; there are not panthers on refuge. Historically, there probably were before white men began messing with the swamp.

What I did was drive the west levee road south for 11.5 miles, which bisects the refuge and is a perfectly straight gravel road built high above the lowland with gently sloping sides, and then drove back on the east levee, seeing a dead armadillo and not much else....a few ducks here and there and a flurry of passerines flitting in the trees when I stopped at one point. But, again, it was midday when most birds and critters are least active. In these nearly 22 miles, I saw no other vehicle.

At the end of the East Levee - Panther Swamp NWR - MS

According to their web page, Panther Swamp's Environmental Education and Interpretation consists of "an annual Kid’s Fishing Rodeo. Hundreds of children participate in fishing, bb and bow shooting activities. Children are provided poles and bait to fish in the one-acre stocked pond."

Leaving Panther Swamp in my dusty van, I went to Yazoo NWR and was able to drive several miles on refuge roads, going through a variety of habitat: marshes and swamps, fields and forests. Yazoo is only five miles from the Mississippi River (as the crow flies). It was late afternoon, and the light made the golden grasses bright against the dark trees. At least this refuge has a Butterfly Garden and the Swan Lake Indian Mound, along with a boardwalk and observation tower. It is the oldest Mississsippi Refuge, established in 1936 and currently has 13,000 acres. It was peaceful. Wood Ducks moved silently through the swamps. But, again, from their webpage: "Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge is also known as one of the premier hunting refuges in the southeastern U.S. For years, hunters have traditionally scheduled their vacations to hunt Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge’s white-tailed deer."

Yazoo NWR - MS

So this has been a revelation: that a National Wildlife Refuge can be a "hunting refuge." Isn't there other land hunters can use, or has it all been cleared for crops? Am I being unreasonable? Waterfowl winter on refuges and then get killed there. 

The populations of what are collectively called "light geese" (Snow and Ross') are increasing at the rate of 5% per year, degrading nesting habitat in the arctic and subarctic. I understand the need to maintain an equilibrium for the general good of all fauna, but when the main refuge activity is hunting, it seems counterintuitive. Keeping a refuge vital and modern is costly, and the monies they receive for allowing "extraction" of their fauna may be one of the reasons they can maintain enough staff. I am just one person, visiting briefly.... Are there discussions and disagreements on this issue amongst the managers and staff? Is that one reason for Wilderness status?