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“For nineteen years my vision was bounded by forests, but today, emerging from a multitude of tropical plants, I beheld the Gulf of Mexico, stretching away unbounded, except by the sky.”
-John Muir, 1867
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The five units comprising the Big Bend Wildlife Management Area—Hickory
Mound, Spring Creek, Tide Swamp, Jena, and Snipe Island—filled
a void in a 200-mile stretch of the Gulf coast already protected in
public ownership. Hunting and fishing are traditional activities and
continue to constitute the major public recreation uses on all of these
lands. Each of the units has a slightly different character and each
offers its own special combination of recreational opportunities. On
Jena, you can drive, bike, or horseback ride up and down ancient sand
dunes to a dramatic panoramic view of exposed limestone, salt marshes,
and the Gulf. At Hagen’s Cove on Tide Swamp, you can scallop,
gig for flounder at night, picnic, and barbeque. On Spring Creek and
at Tide Swamp you’ll
find the only remaining coastal scrub on Big Bend, and at the Hickory
Mound Impoundment, you can crab,
hunt
waterfowl in season, and observe a diverse abundance of birds year-round.
The 105-mile Big Bend Saltwater Paddling
Trail offers outstanding opportunities for paddlers to explore the
Big Bend gulf coast.
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to North Central Region
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