Manchac Wildlife Management Area
Manchac Wildlife Management Area also referred to as Manchac WMA, is an swampland and protected area in St. John the Baptist Parish, Louisiana. The WMA is managed by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Location
8,328 acres was purchased from E.G. Schlieder in 1975. The WMA, swamp and marsh areas, lie south of Jones Island, Pass Manchac, and east of Interstate 55. The Joyce Wildlife Management Area, to the north of North Pass and Pass Manchac, which is south of Ponchatoula, the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area, south of the WMA, as well as Lake Borgne, Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas, and the WMA fall within the Pontchartrain Basin.Description
The WMA is flat, low marshland mainly accessible by watercraft, and motorized craft are limited to certain areas. Bald cypress has been largely logged out of the area. The Prairie is a 500-acre shallow, freshwater pond near the shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain.Recreation
Recreation in the area includes canoeing kayaking, bird watching, and fishing.Biodiversity
Wildlife in the WMA includes the spotted gar, bully mullet, American alligator, American gizzard shad, Gulf menhaden, channel catfish, black-bellied whistling duck, pied-billed grebe, great egret, and the common pondhawk. Other game are the scaup, mallard, teal, gadwall, widgeon, shoveler, coot, rail, and snipe. Bald eagles and ospreys have been observed on the WMA.Plants in the area Spanish moss, bull tongue, smartweed, alligator weed, and spartina. Submerged aquatic vegetation includes naiads, pondweeds, fanwort, and coontail. Cypress and tupelo lie along the Lake Pontchartrain boundary. The understory consists of black willow, maple, palmetto, baccharis, and other grasses. Southeastern Louisiana University’s Turtle Cove Environmental Research Station is located on the WMA. There is also Roseau Cane, Switch Cane, cat-o'-nine-tails, daisy, dewberry, giant blue iris, Maidencane, and marsh mallow.