Description
Moody. Timeless. Ethereal. Bald cypress, water tupelo, and two hundred year-old live oaks dripping with Spanish moss and surrounded by slow moving, swampy waters sets the tone at The Nature Conservancy’s Cypress Island Preserve. If you want to see iconic cypress trees, bottomland hardwood forest and alligators only 20 minutes from a destination city, you come here. This place is a microcosm of everything that represents a cypress swamp in Louisiana.
Two generous land donations led to creating the 9,000-acre Cypress Island Preserve. Located in the heart of Louisiana’s Acadian region and included within the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, this remnant of cypress-tupelo swamp and bottomland hardwood forest harbors alligators, water birds and other wildlife.
Fixing The Floodplain
While TNC has advanced conservation and restoration at the preserve over several decades, it has proven difficult to keep up with the pace of flooding and sprawl in the region. In response, we are working with partners to protect and restore 20,000-acres of natural cypress-tupelo swamp and bottomland hardwood forest in the Teche-Vermillion and Atchafalaya watersheds by 2030 so that this waterscape can continue to support diverse wildlife, clean water and public recreation.
Situated in the heart of the Atchafalaya River watershed, this preserve plays a critical role in reconnecting and restoring the surrounding floodplain, which is compromised after decades of hydrologic manipulations. In addition to providing critical wildlife habitat, the watershed – when ecologically healthy and connected – filters and slows waters flowing down the river and eventually into the Gulf. Delivering clean, fresh water to the coast fuels the creation of unique wetland habitats that oysters and other aquatic species need to thrive.
