[citation needed] In 1996, local resident Frank Bonifay outbid a timber company for the purchase of the swamp, in order to protect the swamp's cypress trees from logging.
Ascension Parish contributed $292,825 to the purchase of the swamp, as part of a mitigation agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to make up for wetland violations committed previously.
Ownership of the swampland transferred to Bluff Swamp Wildlife Refuge & Botanical Gardens Inc, a non-profit headed by Bonifay.
The swamp is adjacent to Spanish Lake,[1] and in 1997 was reported to be the home of up to forty species of birds.
Historically, the swamp was used by local Native Americans for hunting and fishing.