Find North Louisiana Wildlife

Find Your Local Wildlife

We North Louisianans are lucky to have so many opportunities to view wildlife in our backyard. You may know that the northernmost area of North Louisiana is the Sportsman’s Paradise, but did you know that the 26 parishes that we define as North Louisiana are home to 7 accessible national wildlife refuges (NWRs), 4 districts of the Kisatchie National Forest (in 6 locations), 2 national wildlife management preserves, and 18 wildlife management areas (WMAs), 8 state parks, and numerous local parks along lakes, rivers, and estuaries? We’ve even got two national parks, one of which is also a World Heritage Site. Step into any of these places, and you’ll be surrounded by birds, bugs, reptiles, amphibians, and even other mammals.

If you don’t know the name of the refuges and parks closest to you, check out our indexed list below. You’ll notice Bienville Parish is missing from this list. It, along with Jackson and Lincoln, was home to the Jackson-Bienville Wildlife Management Area until it closed in 2016. That closure hit us hard. We loved being that close to a WMA. Jackson Parish is still home to a state park, and Lincoln is home to the Lincoln Parish Park, so they’re included in our list.

We’ll light up the links for each NWR, WMA, and state park once we’ve posted our review of it. Some city parks and public landings are also great places to see wildlife. We provide reviews of those parks and landings as well. Cards on the table, although we promise to do our best to provide unbiased reviews, the Catahoula and Tensas River NWRs are two of our favorite places on earth. We hope that you find the perfect place to enjoy our wildlife.