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Places We Protect

Lake Ramsay Preserve

Louisiana

A blue sky frames a vast grassland savanna with scattered trees.
Longleaf Pine Savanna An open longleaf pine savanna thrives at TNC's Lake Ramsay Preserve in Louisiana. © Will deGravelles/TNC

We’re protecting and connecting what is considered by local ecologists as the highest quality longleaf pine flatwood savanna remaining in southeast Louisiana.

Viewing

Overview

Description

The Nature Conservancy’s Lake Ramsay Preserve, together with the adjacent Lake Ramsay Savannah Wildlife Management Area (WMA), supports what is considered by local ecologists as the highest quality longleaf pine flatwood savanna remaining in southeast Louisiana, including one of the premier native ground-cover plant communities characteristic of this increasingly rare ecosystem. TNC acquired this property to safeguard one of the last high-quality examples of wet pine savanna located in Louisiana’s portion of the East Gulf Coastal Plain and associated rare native species.

TNC’s conservation vision for this property includes restoring and maintaining the historic structure, composition, functional processes and geographic extent of all associated natural communities, with an emphasis on longleaf pine flatwood savanna. Pursuing this vision includes removing and controlling non-native, invasive vegetation with an aggressive prescribed burning program and planting longleaf pines.  

TNC cooperatively manages this site with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, which owns the adjacent 796-acre WMA. The preserve is one of three units in TNC’s Southeast Louisiana Pine Wetland Mitigation Bank, which also includes the Talisheek Pine Wetlands and Abita Creek Flatwoods preserves. (Abita Creek is also open to the public.) Wetland mitigation has been a valuable tool to enable TNC to acquire, restore and manage significant natural areas in St. Tammany Parish.

Access

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Highlights

Visitors are invited to enjoy the preserve's interpretive hiking trail.

Size

583 acres

Explore our work in Louisiana

At the Lake Ramsay Preserve, TNC showcases efforts to protect and restore pine flatwoods savanna management for the enjoyment of visitors seeking to connect with Louisiana nature. 

More About Lake Ramsay Preserve

  • This preserve boasts high quality examples of longleaf pine flatwood savanna, slash pine-pond cypress Savanna, bayhead swamp and small stream forest.

    More than 400 total plant taxa (species and subspecies or varieties) have been identified at Lake Ramsay. These include 28 rare plants, three of which are protected only in Louisiana: scale-leaf false foxglove (Agalinis aphylla), many-flowered grass-pink orchid (Calopogon multiflorus) and Hooker’s milkwort (Polygala hookeri). The preserve also harbors several carnivorous plants and a variety of orchids.

    Rare animals known to be present at the preserve include the grassland birds Bachman’s sparrow (Aimophila aestivalis) and Henslow’s sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii).

  • The portion of the preserve east of Horse Branch is open to the public. TNC maintains a short interpretive hiking trail that provides an opportunity to experience a range of habitats native to the preserve.

    The preserve is suitable for children who are accompanied by an adult. There are no restrooms available on site. A trailhead parking lot is located north of Covington on Horse Branch Road.

    NOTE: The preserve is adjacent to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries’ Lake Ramsay Savannah WMA, and boundary lines are not always apparent. The WMA is open to the public for both hunting and non-consumptive activities, but has its own rules and regulations, including the requirement for a WMA access permit or hunting license and the need to check-in prior to entering the WMA. A WMA self-clearing permit station is located at the intersection of Lake Ramsay Road and Horse Branch Road. 

  • Thank you for these guidelines to ensure the safety of visitors and also resident wildlife. 

    • Dogs and other pets are prohibited. 
    • Do not collect, remove, injure, damage or destroy any plant or animal living or dead, or any artifact or mineral.
    • Hunting, trapping, fishing or discharge of firearms is prohibited.
    • Camping and any type of fire is prohibited.
    • Smoking is not permitted.
    • Please do not litter.
    • Permanent photography blinds may not be constructed. Portable blinds are allowed but must be removed upon departure from the preserve.
    • Do not scatter feed or seed of any kind. Do not use taped calls to attract wildlife.
    • Keep vehicles locked at all times. Do not leave valuables or equipment unattended anywhere on the preserve.
    • Leave the preserve before darkness falls.
    • Respect the rights of adjacent landowners. Do not trespass. Do not block neighbors’ driveways. Do not use any entrance other than the one designed for the preserve.

The longleaf pine flatwoods of Louisiana’s East Gulf Coastal Plain once dominated the landscape in an area extending eastward to and through the Florida panhandle. Only relatively small, highly fragmented examples of this ecosystem remain in the region today.

Longleaf pine savannas are essentially wet grassland communities with scattered trees and shrubs. The open nature of the ecosystem was historically maintained by frequent fire. The typically dense, herbaceous groundcover – dominated by grasses, sedges and a variety of forbs – varies in composition from place to place depending on differences in soils, hydrology, fire disturbances and other land management factors.

Longleaf pine savannas are among the most diverse and most threatened habitats in North America. Threats to this imperiled ecosystem include conversion of land to pastures and other agricultural uses or to loblolly or slash pine plantations, clearing for commercial and residential development, and alteration of natural fire disturbances, among others. Longleaf pine savannas and other associated wetland communities are considered important for floodwater retention, groundwater recharge, water quality, and habitat for several rare plant and animal species.

Although relatively large areas of West Gulf Coastal Plain upland longleaf pine forests have been protected, mainly on federal lands, there are very few flatwood sites in public ownership or under conservation management in either the West or East Gulf Coastal Plain of Louisiana. In non-degraded form, longleaf pine flatwood savannas are among the rarest ecosystems in Louisiana and elsewhere, and both high-quality and degraded wet pine savannas remain highly threatened. However, TNC and a consortium of public and private partners are working toward restoring and conserving the longleaf pine ecosystem across its once-enormous range.

Lake Ramsay Preserve Snapshot

Check out some of the wildlife found at this unique nature preserve.

A bee visits a yellow flower.
A plant spreads out its carnovorous stems across sandy soil.
A red and green plant emerges among green grasses.
Tall curly plants emerge from a vast grassy meadow.
A low fire burns in a meadow.
A bee visits a yellow flower.

Eastern Carpenter Bee: An Eastern carpenter bee (Xylocopa virginica) investigates the opening of a pale pitcher plant (Sarracenia alata) at TNC's Lake Ramsay Preserve in Louisiana. © Will deGravelles/TNC

A plant spreads out its carnovorous stems across sandy soil.

Pink Sundew: Carnivorous pink sundew (Drosera capillaris) is a common inhabitant of acidic, nutrient-poor soils of Louisiana’s wet pine savannas. © Matt Pardue

A red and green plant emerges among green grasses.

Parrot Pitcher Plant: Parrot pitcher plant (Sarracenia psittacina), a a state-tracked rare species, has a puffy hood over the small pitcher that is curved like a parrot’s beak. © Will deGravelles/TNC

Tall curly plants emerge from a vast grassy meadow.

Toothache Grass: Toothache grass (Ctenium aromaticum) is endemic to longleaf pine savannas (and associated wet prairies) of the Gulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain. © Matt Pardue

A low fire burns in a meadow.

Lake Ramsay Burn: Plants like toothache grass (Ctenium aromaticum) only bloom and set seed following fire, an evolutionary adaptation to frequent burning. © Matt Pardue

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