Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge protects a major wetland landscape in the Cache River watershed of southern Illinois, centered in Pulaski County and extending into Union, Alexander, and Johnson counties. Established in 1990 under the Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986, it preserves more than 16,000 acres within a 36,000-acre long-term protection boundary. Managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and supported through the Cache River Wetlands Joint Venture Partnership, it includes cypress-tupelo swamp, bottomland and upland forests, oak barrens, and prairie grassland. The refuge supports more than 50 threatened and endangered species, contains pre-Mississippian archaeological sites, and also serves seasonal hunting.