Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge

The refuge sits on portions of the roughly 8,500-acre Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant, on the Harrison County side of Caddo Lake. The plant's operations polluted large areas of the surrounding wetlands until it closed in the 1990s, and most of the former site is now a federal wildlife refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved the refuge on October 19, 2000. The lake itself was designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance in October 1993.

What the wetlands now offer is habitat. They matter to migratory birds in the Central Flyway and hold high breeding numbers of wood ducks and prothonotary warblers. Rare or threatened species include the peregrine falcon, the alligator snapping turtle and Rafinesque's big-eared bat. The lake holds up to 86 species of fish, at least 18 of them game fish.

Visiting costs nothing. The refuge office is at 15600 Highway 134 in Karnack, and a visitor contact station behind it has restrooms and educational displays. A Ramsar Caddo Lake Wetlands Visitor Center is open seven days a week. Four easy trails are open year round: the 0.25-mile Visitor Center trail, the 0.5-mile Magazine trail, the 1.7-mile Starr Ranch trail and the 9-mile Wildlife Observation trail. The refuge lists only non-motorized boating.