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Noxubee
National Wildlife Refuge
224 Office Road
Brooksville, MS   39739
E-mail: noxubee@fws.gov
Phone Number: 662-323-5548
Visit the Refuge's Web Site:
http://www.fws.gov/noxubee/		 A view of Loakfoma Creek in early spring.
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  Overview
Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge
Noxubee National Wildlife Refuge is located in three counties (Noxubee, Oktibbeha, and Winston) and was originally created from lands obtained through the 1930's Resettlement Administration. With additional land acquisitions through the years, Noxubee now consists of 48,000 acres. Approximately 44,500 acres of the refuge is bottomland and upland forest. These forest lands are occupied by a variety of game species, including quail, deer, and turkey. The endangered red-cockaded woodpecker relies on the Refuge for its existence in east-central Mississippi, In addition many neotropic bird species inhabit the Noxubee forests. Four green-tree reservoirs (GTRs), two major lakes (Bluff - 800 acres and Loakfoma - 400 acres), 16 small impoundments, and assorted wetland areas provide important habitat for wood stork, American alligator, bald eagle and wintering waterfowl.


Getting There . . .
From Highway 25 going south from Starkville toward Louisville, look for the green highway sign indicating Noxubee Refuge just after crossing into Winston County. Turn left onto Loakfoma Road at the sign. Follow the road until it ends at a T. Turn left and proceed approximately 9 miles. From Highway 25 going north from Louisville toward Starkville, look for the green highway sign indicating Noxubee Refuge. Pass the first sign. Continue to the next sign - approximately 7 miles - and turn right onto Loakfoma Road. Follow the road until it ends at a T. Turn left and proceed approximately 9 miles. From Highway 45 at Brooksville, look for Noxubee Refuge exit signs. Go through the town of Brooksville and follow the road until it turns to dirt (about 10 miles). Continue straight, go to second 4-way intersection and make a right. Follow sign to refuge. From Starkville (Highway 25/12), look for a sign at the corner with the Hampton Inn (Spring St.). Follow signs south on Oktoc Road to the refuge about 14 miles.

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     Recreation and Education Opportunities
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Managment Activities

Good forest management is essential to wildlife management. Noxubee Refuge's forests are manipulated to provide a diversity of habitat types which wildlife need throughout the year. Prescribed fire, vegetative regeneration, thinning, and selected harvests are but a few techniques used to improve wildlife habitat. To enhance the appeal of the refuge to waterfowl, a series of low levees have been constructed to permit winter flooding of certain hardwood bottomland areas. This practice of periodically flooding woodlands is referred to as "green-tree reservoir management." Management of water levels in other impoundments, such as moist soil units, stimulates the growth of native wetland plants and results in an abundance of seeds, insects, crustaceans, and mollusks. All of these are favored foods of migratory waterfowl, wading birds, and shorebirds. In 1993 Noxubee Refuge embarked on a venture to restore a section of the Alabama Black Belt Prairie which occurs on the refuge. Morgan Hill Overlook Trail winds through this prairie and affords visitors a unique opportunity to view this disappearing habitat type.