SITES

	Greatham, Teesside, UK
	West Site, Billingham, UK
	Grimsby, Humberside, UK
	Calais, France
	Huelva, Spain
	Scarlino, Italy
	Teluk Kalung, Malaysia
	Umbogintwini, South Africa
	Lake Charles, USA
Wildlife on the Lake Charles Site Wildlife Areas in the Lake Charles Region Biodiversity Management
	Burnie, Tasmania

Index by Category

Appendices

References

West Lake, St Charles, Louisiana, USA

Wildlife Areas in the Lake Charles Region

There are a number of areas rich in wildlife in the region of the Tioxide/Louisiana Pigment Company site. Some of these are of local importance whilst others are of state or even national value. The most important of these reserves is Sabine National Wildlife Refuge on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Other, smaller wildlife areas closer to the production plant include Lake Charles and the Sam Huston Jones State Park.

Sabine National Wildlife Refuge
This refuge is situated south west of the production plant on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The Sabine reserve was established in 1937 to protect the largest remaining coastal marsh on the Gulf. The main part of the reserve, covering 142,000 acres, extends east from Lake Sabine on the Texas border to Calcasieu Lake. An additional 15,000 acre refuge is located east of the Calcasieu.

The main function of the reserve is to provide habitat for large numbers of wintering and migratory waterbirds that use both the Mississippi and Central Flyways, but in doing so also protects a wide diversity of other wildlife. Although some considerable distance from the Tioxide / Louisiana pigment company site the Calcasieu River, that flows through Lake Charles and Prien Lake, provides a direct hydrological link between the industrial areas and the reserve. In addition there are frequent movements of waterbirds between the reserve and the wetlands adjacent to the works.

Over 250 species of birds have been recorded at the Sabine Refuge. These include large numbers of ducks such as Blue-winged Teal (Anas discor), Mottled Duck and American Wigeon (A. americana) especially in autumn and winter. During winter Snow Geese (Chen caerulescens) are also abundant.

One of the most popular and memorable sights for visitors however, is the regular late afternoon roosting flight of Roseate Spoonbills (Ajaia ajaja). In addition to birds the reserve also supports large and diverse numbers of other species as shown in Table 38.

Sam Huston Jones State Park
This conservation area is located about 7 miles north east of the works site.
It covers over a thousand acres with a diversity of habitats ranging from lagoon and cypress swamp wetlands to dense woodlands.

The lakes hold large populations of fish which include White Perch (Morone americana), and bass (Micropterus spp) and are extensive used for recreational fishing.

Waterbirds such as Great Egret, Snowy Egret and Yellow-crowned Night Herons (Nyctanassa violacea) are common in the wetlands (Box 6) and the wooded swamplands hold a diverse and abundant population of woodpeckers that include Pileated Woodpecker (Dryocopus pileatus), Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), Downy Woodpecker (Picoides pubescens) and Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus). The latter species is particularly associated with southern woodlands as is the Brown-headed Nuthatch (Sitta pusilla) another species also recorded during a brief visit to the site in June 1994.

Many of the woodland birds occurring in this park reserve could eventually be recorded in the company’s woodland habitats.