Sherburne Complex Wildlife Management Area is a 43,637-acre protected landscape in the Atchafalaya Basin west of Baton Rouge, created through cooperation among Louisiana wildlife agencies, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Emerging from decades of flood control and basin engineering, it took shape beginning in 1983 and expanded under the Atchafalaya Basin Master Plan in 1988. The complex unites three adjoining units of bottomland hardwoods, swamps, lakes, and bayous that provide vital wildlife habitat while supporting research, education, and recreation. It also preserves the former site of Sherburne, a logging town that vanished after its timber was exhausted.