Art Lander’s Outdoors: Mississippi River basin offers habitats unique to western third of Kentucky

Editor’s be aware: That is the eighth and closing article in a collection profiling the key river basins of Kentucky.

The Mississippi River is the second-longest river on the North American continent, flowing southward for two,340 miles from its supply, Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, to the Mississippi River Delta within the Gulf of Mexico.

The Mississippi basin drains all or components of 32 U.S. states between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians, 1,139,490 sq. miles. It both borders or passes via the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

The Mississippi River kinds the western boundary of Kentucky for 71 miles in 4 counties — Ballard, Carlisle, Hickman and Fulton — from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois to simply south of New Madrid, Missouri.

Artwork Lander Jr. is outdoor editor for the Northern Kentucky Tribune. He’s a local Kentuckian, a graduate of Western Kentucky College and a life-long hunter, angler, gardener and nature fanatic. He has labored as a newspaper columnist, journal journalist and writer and is a former workers author for Kentucky Afield Journal, editor of the annual Kentucky Looking & Trapping Information and Kentucky Spring Looking Information, and co-writer of the Kentucky Afield Outside newspaper column.

Early Historical past

Native People had been current alongside the Mississippi River in Kentucky for 1000’s of years, first as nomadic hunters and gatherers, then later practising agriculture in villages.

Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Website, close to the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, was the location of a Native American village occupied about 1100 to 1350 A.D.

Native individuals of the Mississippian tradition constructed earthen mounds and everlasting homes round a central plaza overlooking the Mississippi River. Right this moment, this archaeological web site options mounds, museum reveals, a strolling path, and a welcome heart.

Open to the general public since 1932, the museum reveals excavated artifacts equivalent to Mississippian pottery and stone instruments and shows art work showcasing their lifestyle and the archaeological historical past of Native American tribes in Kentucky.

For extra data go to parks.ky.gov.

Tributaries

There are three main tributaries to the Mississippi River in Kentucky — Mayfield Creek, Obion Creek and Bayou de Chien.

Mayfield Creek arises in Calloway County, flows north via Graves County, simply to the east of Mayfield, then turns west via McCracken County. It kinds the boundary between Ballard and Carlisle counties, and joins the Mississippi River, simply south of Wickliffe.

Obion Creek arises in southern Graves County, flows northwestward into Carlisle County, then abruptly turns southwestward via Hickman County, to its confluence with the Mississippi River north of Hickman, in Fulton County.

Bayou de Chien arises in southern Graves County, close to the Tennessee line, and flows westward into Fulton County, forming a community of wetlands, merging with Obion Creek and Little Mud Creek, north of Hickman.

River Entry

For data on launching ramps for trailered boats on the Mississippi River in Kentucky, go to the KDFWR waterbodies webdsite.

Fish and Wildlife

The confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi in western Kentucky is the apex of the Mississippi Flyway, a fowl migration route that typically follows the Mississippi, Missouri, and Decrease Ohio rivers from their breeding grounds in Canada and the northern U.S. to their wintering grounds alongside the Gulf of Mexico and in Central and South America.

Mallard geese (Picture from USFWS)

About 40 % of all North American migrating waterfowl and shorebirds use this route. The opposite main migration routes are the Atlantic, Central and Pacific Flyways.

Greater than 325 fowl species make the round-trip every year alongside the Mississippi Flyway.

The considerable wetlands alongside the Mississippi River in Kentucky provide glorious wildlife viewing, fishing, waterfowl searching, and trapping alternatives for beaver, river otter and different furbearers.

The wooded uplands assist high quality populations of white-tailed deer, wild turkeys and small mammals.

Reelfoot NWR

Reelfoot Lake, in Fulton County, Kentucky, and Lake County, Tennessee, is a 27,000-acre crescent-shaped pure lake, lined with cypress bushes.

The lake was fashioned by the New Madrid Earthquake on December 16, 1811, and two aftershocks on January 23 and February 7, 1812. The land beneath the previous channels of the Mississippi River, Bayou de Chien and Reelfoot River sank, filling with water flowing downstream from the Mississippi River.

Reelfoot Lake Picture from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; click on for bigger picture)

Reelfoot Nationwide Wildlife Refuge was established in 1941 in Tennessee. Further land purchases prolonged the refuge into Kentucky and its current acreage of 10,428.

The refuge and surrounding lake had been preserved as a sanctuary for migratory birds, offering necessary habitat to over 283 species of birds together with the endangered Least Tern.

The refuge is a significant wintering, migrating, and nesting space for waterfowl. There may be additionally a big wintering inhabitants of bald eagles.

The refuge can be house to numerous different wildlife, together with white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, furbearers, reptiles, and amphibians.

The lake additionally provides glorious fishing for bluegill, crappie and different gamefish.

Wildlife recreation alternatives embrace a quota deer hunt, a 3.5-mile auto tour, climbing in bottomland hardwood forests with a number of viewing towers, and paddling in small boats (kayaks and canoes) trails via the nonetheless waters of Reelfoot Lake.

For extra data, go to www.fws.gov.

The Mississippi River basin in Kentucky provides guests a possibility to discover wildlife habitats not discovered within the japanese two-thirds of the state, and find out about a sophisticated Native American tradition that thrived within the area, previous to European exploration.

In some ways, the area downriver of the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, is exclusive within the state and properly well worth the lengthy drive. It’s one of many state’s “must-see” journey locations.