Phone +1 731-538-2481 | Area 42.2 km² Established 1941 | |
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Governing body U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Website Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge Address 4343 TN-157, Union City, TN 38261, USA Similar Reelfoot Lake State Park, Lake Isom, Clarks River National, Lower Hatchie National, Chickasaw National Wildlife R | ||
Thousands of geese take flight reelfoot national wildlife refuge avi
Reelfoot National Wildlife Refuge is a part of the U.S. system of National Wildlife Refuges consisting of an area of Northwest Tennessee and Western Kentucky that consists primarily of a buffer zone around Reelfoot Lake, Tennessee's only large natural lake, which formed after the New Madrid earthquakes of 1811–1812 and is one of the Mississippi River Basin's richest locations for waterfowl, aquatic life, and other wildlife.
It covers 10,428 acres (4,220 ha) and comprises primarily lands adjacent to the lake that have not been included in the Tennessee State Park system. The refuge was established in 1941 and has been expanded on several occasions. Some of it consists of agricultural land that is leased to farmers, but they are required to use stricter conservation practices than were widespread when the same land was held in private ownership, primarily to lessen the siltation of the lake and surrounding bodies of water.