Basic Info about the Refuge
The Red River National Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana is 50,000 acres of trails, forests, and waterways across 5 parishes.
The Red River NWR is composed of five units across five parishes: the Headquarters Unit in Bossier, Bayou Pierre in DeSoto and Red River, C. Bickham Dickson in Caddo, and the Lower Cane River and Spanish Lakes Lowland Units, both in Natchitoches.
The Headquarters Unit stays busy, and the birds found throughout it will come pretty close to people. The trick is finding a quiet spot to animal watch. Our favorite places at the refuge are looking out at Lake Caroline and hiking the Lake Bluff, Orchard, and River Trails at the Headquarters Unit.
Small birds and squirrels are active all along the trails, especially on cool mornings, and turtles, gulls, pelicans, and cormorants fly over and hang out in Lake Caroline during much of the year.
During the late spring and summer, you can find skinks along the trails.
Miles of Trails
Units
Entry Fee
By The Numbers
Learn more about the refuge.
Days Open
Trails Available
Gulf Fritillary Butterfly
Broadhead Skink
White-Throated Sparrow
Northern Mockingbird
Red Admiral Butterfly
Fox Squirrel
Mourning Dove
Ring-Billed Gull
Carolina Wren
American Pelicans
Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher
Hairy Woodpecker
Rusty Blackbird
Red-Winged Blackbirds
Turkey Vulture
While we love all our wild friends, the rusty blackbird is our favorite Red River NWR inhabitant. Red River is the first place we met this friend in the wild, and no matter how many other awesome neighbors we meet there, is still our fav from the refuge.
More about How You Can Enjoy the Refuge
The refuge is open from sunrise to sunset all year and is free to the public. Find more details about what you need to legally hunt and fish at the refuge in the tabs below.
Restrooms
The headquarters building has interactive displays and restrooms. Call ahead to find out whether the building is open.
Trail Accessibility
The Red River NWR trails are very accessible for Headquarters Unit visitors with vision and mobility problems. The trails are well kept and marked, and it is easy to use a cane on them.
Learn More
Learn more about the Red River NWR at the refuge’s official website.
The Red River NWR is home to hundreds of species of animals, many of which are birds. You might see owls, sparrows, wrens, gulls, pelicans, gnatcatchers, woodpeckers, doves, cormorants, skinks, squirrels, foxes, or butterflies at the refuge. You can find lists of birds sighted at the refuge with eBird’s Trail Tracker “Headquarters Unit,” “Bayou Pierre Yates Tract,” and “Bayou Pierre Dill Tract” sighting list and iNaturalist’s “Red River National Wildlife Refuge Check List” for other animals reported at the refuge. For more info about the refuge, check out the Red River NWR page.
The Red River NWR’s Lake Caroline, Red River provide anglers with several places to fish off the shore and boat launches to get into the open water. 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
Hunting is allowed on 12,000 acres across three of the Red River units: Bayou Pierre, Spanish Lake Lowlands, and Lower Cane River. To legally hunt at the Red River NWR, you’ll need a valid Louisiana hunting license and a Migratory Bird Stamp for hunting waterfowl. Learn more about federal hunting laws enforced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Red River NWR “Hunting” page and the Louisiana Wildlife Management “WMA/Refuge/Conservation Area Licenses and Permits pages.”
Visit Other Areas
The Red River NWR is one of many places you can enjoy our local wildlife.
Explore North Louisiana's Outdoors.
Learn about national wildlife refuges, Kisatchie National Forest ranger districts, state wildlife management areas, and state parks found throughout North Louisiana.