Best Bottomland
Congaree National Park protects a floodplain forest along the Congaree and Wateree rivers in central South Carolina. Designated a national park in 2003, it contains one of the largest remaining areas of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the United States, including unusually tall trees of sev...
The Atchafalaya Basin is a vast river floodplain and wetland complex in south-central Louisiana, organized around the Atchafalaya River. Often described as the largest river swamp in the United States, it includes bottomland hardwood forests, cypress and tupelo swamps, bayous, lakes, and marshes. Th...
Established in southeastern Texas in 1974, this national preserve protects a region where eight distinct ecosystems converge, producing one of North America's highest concentrations of plant and animal diversity.
The Cache River Wetlands form a protected wetland complex in southern Illinois within the Mississippi River's historic alluvial region. The landscape includes bottomland forest, swamps, sloughs, and floodplain habitats, with notable stands of bald cypress and water tupelo far north of the trees' pri...
Four Holes Swamp is a blackwater wetland in South Carolina whose drainage joins the Edisto River system. Its flooded forest contains bald cypress and water tupelo, including old-growth cypress trees estimated to exceed 1,000 years in age. The swamp provides habitat for birds, reptiles, amphibians, f...
Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area established in 1980 in northeastern Louisiana. It preserves bottomland hardwood forest, wetlands, sloughs, and other habitats associated with the Tensas River floodplain, part of an ecosystem once widespread across the lower Mississippi Valle...
Honey Island Swamp is a largely undeveloped wetland in southeastern Louisiana, situated near the Pearl River and the Mississippi border. Its habitats include cypress-tupelo swamp, marsh, hardwood bottomland, and waterways used by alligators, wild boar, turtles, wading birds, and other wildlife. Part...
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is a federally protected area near Ridgefield, Washington, established in 1965 to conserve Columbia River floodplain habitat. Its wetlands, grasslands, riparian woods, and seasonal lakes provide wintering and feeding grounds for waterfowl, especially the dusky Can...
Neches River National Wildlife Refuge is a protected area in East Texas established in 2006 along the Neches River. It conserves bottomland hardwood forest, wetlands, streams, and associated wildlife habitat within a river corridor that retains substantial natural floodplain ecosystems. Managed by t...
Pearl River Wildlife Management Area straddles the Louisiana-Mississippi border along the Pearl River, providing wetland habitat for migratory birds and American alligators.
Wambaw Creek Wilderness is a federally designated wilderness area within Francis Marion National Forest in coastal South Carolina. It protects a low-lying landscape shaped by Wambaw Creek, including blackwater wetlands, bottomland hardwood forest, and stands of bald cypress and water tupelo. With de...
Situated in southeastern Missouri, this protected bottomland prairie and swamp habitat sits on an ancient channel of the Mississippi River and provides vital refuge for waterfowl.
Prairie du Chien Bottomland Prairie is a Wisconsin natural area notable for its rare alluvial soil plant communities along the Mississippi River.
