The Nature Conservancy

Dahomey

The Nature Conservancy’s Dahomey site is located some 15 miles southwest of Cleveland, Miss., and consists of about 20,000 acres, nearly half of which is publicly owned as the Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge. The site contains the largest remaining tract of forested wetlands in northwestern Mississippi.

As an island of natural habitat in an area used primarily for agriculture, Dahomey has been named a priority bird conservation area. It is an important stopover for neo-tropical songbirds using the Mississippi River corridor for their spring and fall migrations and many bird species breed in its wetlands forest. Also, up to 15,000 migratory waterfowl winter in the refuge each year. Dahomey shelters the pondberry, a plant species listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).

Strategies and Progress

Natural surface water patterns have been altered in the vicinity of the Dahomey site by stream channelizations and the construction of levees. Thus, seasonal floods that historically occurred no longer reach a significant portion of the site’s woodland habitat. In addition, that habitat has been fragmented by changes in land use. Another concern with regard to Dahomey is the route of a planned extension of Interstate 69, which is currently proposed to pass near the refuge.

Working in partnership with the Realty Division of the USFWS, The Nature Conservancy’s primary role at Dahomey thus far has been land acquisition. The Dahomey National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1990 on 9,269 acres originally purchased by the Conservancy and later sold to the USFWS.

Current and proposed Conservancy actions at Dahomey include the creation of a science-based conservation area plan for the site, acquisition of additional land for the national wildlife refuge and ensuring that steps will be taken to mitigate any environmental damage caused to the site by the construction of I-69. The Conservancy and the USFWS share as an objective for the site the restoration of its natural flood regimes.

What's to Gain?

Conservation and restoration of the Dahomey site’s habitat of forested wetlands is essential to the future of declining neo-tropical songbirds and other bird species that rely on the woodlands of the Mississippi River alluvial plain for migration stopovers and for nesting and wintering grounds.

Dahomey2

The Mississippi River basin as a whole supports 25
percent of North America's fish species and is a vital migration corridor
for 40 percent of the continent's waterfowl and 60 percent of its bird
species ©Byron Jorjorian

LMR Program

Priority Sites

Quick Links

Dahomey Map

The Nature Conservancy and its partners work at sites along the entire length of the Mississippi River, from its headwaters in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.