Delta National Forest is the only bottomland hardwood forest in the national forest system, about 60,000 acres lying entirely within Sharkey County, east of Rolling Fork. Before levees and cotton, floodplain forest of this kind covered much of the Delta. Timber companies clear-cut most of it in the late 1800s. What remains here is a mix of water, willow, overcup and Nuttall oaks, ash, sugarberry, sweetgum and cypress.
The Forest Service manages the timber and the state Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks runs the land as Sunflower Wildlife Management Area, established in 1955. Sloughs are flooded in winter for waterfowl, there are boat ramps on the Big and Little Sunflower Rivers, and primitive campsites are scattered through the woods. Hunters come for deer, turkey and waterfowl and for the black color phase of the fox squirrel, which is common here. The green ash, overcup oak and sweetgum research natural areas were named National Natural Landmarks in 1976.
This is a working forest and a hunting area, so check the seasons and the area's rules before you go. The management area's headquarters is off Pipeline Road, reached by driving about nine miles east from Rolling Fork on Highway 16, and the Forest Service's Delta Ranger District office is in Rolling Fork. The Delta also lies on the Mississippi Flyway, so winter brings migrating birds. It is one of the few places to see what the flatland looked like before the plantations.
The closest stops worth working into your route
Roadside plaques and monuments within a short detour