Wolf River

The Wolf River in southwestern Mississippi is often called the cleanest river in the state. It was named for the red wolf that once roamed the southeastern United States.

Residential and commercial development in Hancock and Harrison counties have increased 10-fold over the last two decades. Consequently, much of the lands within the Wolf River watershed have been threatened with conversion.

Wolf River Mitigation Bank

Wildlife Mississippi has been working since 2012 to protect the Wolf River; the organization owns and operates the Wolf River Mitigation Bank, covering 420 acres along approximately 2.5 miles of the waterway in Hancock County.

The bank allows for wetland and stream mitigation required when developers’ building or road projects impair wetlands or streams in the Gulf Coast region.  The property is on the western side of the Wolf River, about 20 miles northwest of Gulfport.

Regional Conservation Effort

Wildlife Mississippi’s efforts to restore and protect a portion of the Wolf River corridor are part of a regional conservation effort. Much of the river corridor is protected in perpetuity, thanks to the Wolf River Conservation Society, now a part of the Land Trust for the Mississippi Coastal Plain. The river provides important wildlife habitat, ample recreational activities, and freshwater flow to the tidal marshes of the Bay of St. Louis and the Mississippi Sound.

Preservation of Wet Pine Flats

The historic land cover at the mitigation bank is wet pine flats. With increased timber management to short rotation loblolly pine, the removal of a regular fire regime, and an overall lack of habitat management, the expanse of the wet pine flats in Mississippi has decreased significantly.

The Wolf River site has an excellent potential to create and preserve this threatened habitat type. The site was selected to maintain and improve water quality, maintain flood-storage capacity, and protect its aquatic and terrestrial wildlife and plant habitats.

Wildlife Mississippi has restored a bottomland hardwood forested wetland habitat along the Wolf River and a wet pine flat habitat in the western portion of the property. These habitats will improve water quality in the Wolf River drainage basin.

Decreased water quality is one of the main reasons for the decline in the population of the Gulf sturgeon, a species classified as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. The interior streams within the property also have habitat suitable for the Louisiana quillwort, a species classified as endangered under federal law.