Black Creek Wilderness is a 5,052-acre protected area in Mississippi within De Soto National Forest and the state’s largest wilderness. Set in the valley of Black Creek, it preserves a rich corridor of coastal plain habitats, including longleaf pine uplands, bottomland hardwoods, oxbow lakes, sandy shores, and floodplain forests shaped by seasonal flooding and drought. Black Creek, a tributary of the Pascagoula River, includes 21 miles designated in 1986 as Mississippi’s only National Wild and Scenic River segment. The wilderness is important for conserving ecosystems once more widespread and for supporting rare species such as the Pearl darter and yellow-blotched map turtle.