Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge A Conservation Success Story
When Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive Order
establishing Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge in 1939, the
land's fertility and abundant wildlife populations had been
ravaged. The vast forest, which had reigned supreme for eons,
had been cleared by European settlers in the early 1800's.
Cotton became king and farming soon robbed the soil of its
natural fertility. The loss of forest, with its soil stabilizing
root system, led to massive erosion problems. The Civil War, the
boll weevil, and the Great Depression combined to cause large
scale land abandonment during the Dust Bowl Era. Few wildlife
species and sparse timber remained. Today the 35,000-acre
wildlife refuge is once again a forest, predominantly loblolly
pine on the ridges with hardwoods found along creek bottoms and
in scattered upland coves. Clear streams and beaver ponds
provide ideal wetlands for migrating waterfowl. Wildlife
populations have been restored, many in greater numbe