Wildlife Refuge Dedicated Today

A dedication ceremony for the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge (TRNWR) in southern Sharkey County will be at 11:30 today during the Great Delta Bear Affair Festival in Rolling Fork, MS.

The TRNWR is one of the newest wildlife refuges in the state, established in January 2004 through a bill presented by U. S. Rep. Bennie Thompson. Thompson will be on hand for the ceremony, joined by local dignitaries and representatives from U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Wildlife Mississippi.

"The focus of this refuge will be to manage a diversity of wildlife species, but also place special emphasis on providing corridors for and protecting black bear," said James Cummins, executive director of Wildlife Mississippi. "It's a very low-lying area in the South Delta, and that really lends itself to waterfowl management, and we hope to provide some pretty significant public uses." This is a collection of refuges and includes both the youngest (Holt Colier and TRNWR) and the oldest refuges (Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge) in the state. The complex includes more than 100,000 acres of land on seven refuges that provide vital habitat for fish and wildlife in the Delta region in our great outdoors.