LEE TARTT NATURE PRESERVE Grenada, Mississippi

What is LEe Tartt NAture PReserve?

• 300 acres of natural habitat and interpretive areas at Chakchiuma Swamp 

• Critical habitat for wildlife in the City of Grenada, including migratory and non-migratory birds.

• A protected urban forest & natural arboretum in downtown Grenada whose purpose is to create access for meaningful connections with nature.

• Protected land within a larger natural system along the Yalobusha River and near thousands of publicly protected acres at Grenada Lake and Malmaison Wildlife Management Area.

• Conservation Natural Area under the management of Friends of Chakchiuma Swamp and existing on public property owned by the City of Grenada.

RULES AND REGULATIONS

NOTE: Be aware that LTNP is currently in a state of change as FCS is actively designing and constructing trails and interpretation. Please be patient with our progress!

Open dawn until dusk

All activities are at your own risk*

Activities that are encouraged: walking, bird watching, paddling, photography, painting, meditation, sharing nature

Dogs must be on a leash

Plants and animals may not be foraged, removed or added without a permit. Contact FCS for more info.

No hunting without a permit from FCS

No firearms use on property. City of Grenada laws apply.

*Risks include: insects (ticks, mosquitos, chiggers, ants, wasps and bees during the warm season), plants that could cause itching (poison ivy), uneven ground off the trails (and sometimes on the trails), high wind in the forest (branches can break, trees can fall)

CANOES & KAYAKS

Contact FCS at 662-230-0368 to arrange for a time to open gate if drive to boat launch is desired

Groups over 6 must have a permit to paddle

Map of navigable waters and walking trails can be found under MAPS

Chakchiuma Swamp

The preserve is a bottomland hardwood forest featuring a series of interconnected oxbow lakes known as Chakchiuma Swamp. This city owned property has a rich land use history over the past 150 years including an antebellum railroad line still in use today, an african american community of stilted shacks, a hog farm and more recently a materials yard for the city. It’s western boundary is Highway 51 and the northern boundary is 332 leading to the Grenada Lake dam and the US Army Corp of Engineers floodplain property known as Haserway Wetland Area.

The oxbow lakes are now cut off from the river keeping them cool and clear most of the year. Duckweed speckles the surface between the swollen trunks bald cypress and water tupelo trees. Their canopy provides a shaded haven for a variety of turtles, frogs, fishes and reptiles. After all, a swamp would not be complete without a few snakes and alligators but sightings are rare! 

Biodiversity + connection

This complex system of plants and animals inspire!

 Though the preserve is a short walk from the downtown square it is home to a great diversity of plants and animals. Grenada County’s unique elongated placement within the delta, loess bluffs and north central plateau has much to do with diversity of plant communities and soils at the preserve. The dominate natural feature, “the forest”, provides a a constant feast of caterpillars for birds year round. Notable summer birds are prothonotary warbler, summer tanager, white eyed and yellow throated vireo, northern parula, yellow billed cuckoo & snowy egret. Notable winter birds are hermit thrush, wood duck, brown creeper, red crowned kinglet and yellow bellied sapsucker. The year round residents include barred owl, red shouldered hawk, northern cardinal, turkey vulture and woodpeckers - pileated, red bellied, downy. The lucky caterpillars fill the preserve with butterflies and moths notably zebra swallowtail whose host plant is pawpaw, gulf fritillary whose host plant is passion vine, luna moth whose host plant is sweetgum. 

Check out our iNaturalist Project to see what we are finding