Bayou Cocodrie National Wildlife Refuge in Concordia Parish, Louisiana, protects 15,155 acres of bottomland hardwood forest and wetlands in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Established in 1992 from a core tract acquired by The Nature Conservancy and transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, it preserves one of the least altered remnants of a once vast hardwood ecosystem that stretched along the Mississippi River. Named for the scenic Bayou Cocodrie running through it, the refuge includes hardwood forest, oxbow lakes, sloughs, brakes, and bayous. It also serves as important habitat for migratory birds, wintering waterfowl, and the Louisiana black bear.