The refuge is open from sunrise to sunset all year and is (for the most part) free to the public. You’ll need to pay $5 a day per car to enter the Stuart Lake Recreation Area. If you plan to use the Group Use Area or camp, you’ll need to pay an additional $15-65. You’ll also need to pay a $5 fee to use some trails. There are more details about where and how to legally hunt and fish in the Kisatchie National Forest Catahoula Ranger District in the tabs below.

Restrooms

You can find public restrooms throughout the Catahoula Ranger District. Vault toilets are available at Lake Iatt, as well as the Bankston, Highway 472, Pearson, and Saddle Bayou Campgrounds and flush toilets at Stuart Lake.

Accessibility

Most of the trails at the Catahoula Ranger District are uneven and difficult for someone with mobility and vision problems to use. The easiest area to get through is the Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden, but, there are places throughout it that are difficult for a cane user to navigate.

Learn More

Learn more about the Kisatchie National Forest – Catahoula Ranger District at the U.S. Forest Service’s official website.

Catahoula Ranger District is a great place to find bluebirds, sparrows, herons, flycatchers, turtles, lizards, and butterflies. You can find lists of birds sighted at the refuge with eBird’s “Kisatchie NF – Catahoula Ranger District” and “Kisatchie NF – Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden” Trail Tracker sighting lists. For more info about the refuge, check out the Forestry Service’s “Catahoula Ranger District” subsection of the Kisatchie National Forest website.

You can fish at the Stuart Lake Recreation Area near Alexandria. You can find information on getting and maintaining your fishing license and what species you can keep, check out the Wildlife and Fisheries “Recreational Freshwater Finfish and Crawfish” page. You can also learn about the crawfishing licenses there.

You can hunt at the Catahoula National Wildlife Management Preserve. To legally hunt there, you’ll need a valid Louisiana hunting license.  Learn more about Louisiana hunting laws at the Louisiana Wildlife Management “WMA/Refuge/Conservation Area Licenses and Permits pages.”