The Sky Lake Boardwalk

On November 3, Governor Haley Barbour, First Lady Marsha Barbour and others announced the opening of the Sky Lake Boardwalk. Wildlife Mississippi’s involvement in the preservation of Sky Lake began when the organization was founded. Wildlife Mississippi worked with the owners of the property, Mark and Peggy Simmons, the Office of the Governor, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to acquire the property so that it would be preserved, not only for its fish and wildlife values, but for scenic, ecological, and scientific values as well. The ancient baldcypress trees of Sky Lake are one of the largest remaining tracts of old growth cypress on earth. The other sites are located in Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.

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A Message from Wildlife Mississippi's President
Bill Hough - Summer Issue

Wow! What a spring we’ve had in Mississippi. Mother Nature has dealt us some pretty tough weather. The tornados and wind storms in Northern Mississippi were mind-boggling. We’ve also had high water on the Mississippi River which inundated the river counties with unimaginable flooding. These disasters destroyed and disrupted the homes and jobs of many of our fellow Mississippians. Our thoughts and prayers are with them all. 

I can remember back in 1973 helping relatives scoop mud out of their deer camp on Steele Bayou. The water came to the top of the doors. We thought it was a “100 year flood” and we’d never see water like that again. During this flood, that same building had water to the top of the chimney, which is about 7 feet higher than the water level in 1973. I say that to remind you to never underestimate Mother Nature.

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Conservation Corner
(For the week of November 28, 2011)
Indian Mounds in Mississippi
by James L. Cummins

Imagine our native Indians hard at work from early morning to late evening gathering baskets of dirt. They would carry heavy, dirt-laden baskets to a clearing, dump the soil and pat it down with the soles of their feet. Multiple layers of soil were added during repeated construction episodes until an earthen mound was born. Slowly, the mound reached an impressive height. Variations of this process were repeated throughout Mississippi over a span of at least 1,800 years.

Archeologists classify mound-building Indians of the Southeast into three major chronological divisions: the Archaic, the Woodland and the Mississippian traditions. To date, no mounds of the Archaic period have been positively identified.

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