Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1992 to protect some of the last remaining, least-disturbed bottomland hardwood forest tracts in the Lower Mississippi Valley.

[1] The Nature Conservancy purchased an 11,403-acre (46.15 km2) core tract in 1991[2] from the Fisher Lumber Company, a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation.

The remaining habitat is wetlands utilized by wintering waterfowl such as mallard, pintail and shoveler duck species.

[4] Other birds include bald eagle, peregrine falcon, osprey and Swainson's warbler.

[5] The Louisiana black bear, federally listed as threatened since 1992,[6] is known to occur in the Bayou Cocodrie.