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the streams within the year, should the go-ahead be given.
The new Pascagoula Wild Life Area is a naturalist's dream. It is located along the proposed trail at miles 12-25 according to the master map.
This 32,000-acre tract of bottomland hardwoods was purchased by the Nature Conservancy in September of 1976 and later turned over to the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage CCranittee for protection. The Pascagoula River bottomlands contain more than 30 miles of the Pascagoula River and about 40 oxbow lakes, and have been identified as the single most Important natural area remaining in Ilississippi and possibly in the Southeast. The purchase of the Pascagoula Tract was a result of three years of complex negotiations, and represents one of the largest, if not the largest purchases ever made by a state government in the name of conservation.
The Pascagoula bottomlands harbor such birds as the Green, Little Blue, and Great Blue Herons, pileated woodpeckers, wood ducks, barred owls, prothonotary warblers, and the locally threatened Swallow-tailed Kite. It is home to the American alligator, White-tailed deer, river otter, beaver, muskrat, mink, raccoon, and the alligator snapping turtle. There have been several sightings of the endangered Florida panther in the area, and the Pascagoula River is the only home of the rare Yellow-blotched Sawhack Turtle, presently being considered for Endangered status. Other unique species found in the Pascagoula include the rainbow snake and glossy water snake, both rare in Ilississippi, as well as two threatened pitcher plants and the rare odorless wax myrtle. Note the special syrtols on the master map,
SA and SP standing for special animal and plant habitats here and elsewhere on the master map that were furnished by Joe Jacob. The beauty of the area extends to the brilliant sand beaches framing the river and enticing canoeing carpers. A view of the nearby giant oaJss alone is worth extending the present popular National Forest Black Creek Canoe Float trip into this new Pascagoula Tract. Nor will people on foot or horse be denied. There lies deep in the wilderness 13 miles of an old railroad bed just waiting to be converted into part of Bartram's