The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC) approved a resolution creating the John Franks Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Caddo Parish during its meeting on June 2 in Baton Rouge.
The WMA, formerly the Franks Tract on Soda Lake WMA, will consist of 3,664 acres. The new WMA will be carved from Soda Lake WMA, which will remain as an LDWF WMA.
The WMA honors Louisiana oilman and renowned thoroughbred horse owner John Franks, who died in 2003. Franks, from Haughton and who lived in Shreveport, founded Franks Petroleum in 1957. He won horse racing’s Eclipse Award five times.
He also served in the Army Air Forces in World World II and studied geology at LSU.
The Franks Tract was acquired by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as mitigation for impacts from the J. Bennett Johnston Waterway Project and will be managed by LDWF through a cooperative agreement with the Red River Waterway Commission.
Habitat on the John Franks WMA consists of bottomland hardwood forest and pasture land. Portions of the pasture land are being reforested to provide additional bottomland forest habitat in the Red River alluvial valley. Other areas will be maintained as natural openings to provide a diversity of habitat for a variety of game and non-game species.
To see the complete resolution, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/
For more information on LDWF’s WMAs go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/
