Richland Creek WMA
Phone: (903) 389-7080
Address:
1670 FM 488
Streetman, TX 75859
Contact:
Ryan Assenheimer
Dates Open:
Portions of the WMA may be closed for hunting activities:
- 📌 To see hunt and area closed dates on the Richland Creek WMA north Carl Frentress Unit and south Trinity Unit, use "Richland Creek" on TPWD's Public Hunting Area Online Search.
Description
The Richland Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) was named for a tributary to the Trinity River which flowed through the property prior to the construction of Richland-Chambers reservoir. The WMA was created to compensate for habitat losses associated with the construction of Richland-Chambers Reservoir. The WMA is owned and managed by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The mission of Richland Creek WMA is to develop and manage populations of indigenous and migratory wildlife species and their habitats and to provide quality consumptive and non-consumptive public use of the WMA in a way that is not detrimental to the natural resources on the WMA.
Richland Creek WMA is located in an ecotone, a transition zone where species from two habitats blend, that separates the Post Oak Savannah and Blackland Prairie ecological regions. The WMA is almost entirely within the Trinity River floodplain and is subject to periodic and prolonged flooding. Average annual rainfall is 40 inches. Soils consist primarily of Trinity and Kaufman clays. These bottomland soils are highly productive and support a wide array of bottomland and wetland dependent wildlife and vegetation communities.
Vast bottomland hardwood forest communities characterized by cedar elm, sugarberry and green ash dominate the land in the WMA. Honey locust, boxelder and black willow are also common. Pockets of bur oak, shumard oak, overcup oak, water oak, willow oak and native pecan also occur. The understory, a layer of vegetation beneath the forest canopy, is dominated by hawthorn, cat briar, poison ivy and rattan with shade tolerant grasses and forbs making up the herbaceous vegetation layer. Large non-forested areas also occur on the WMA and are characterized by diverse herbaceous plant communities.
The vast bottomland hardwood forests in the area serve as nesting and brood rearing habitat for many species of neotropical migratory birds. The WMA has numerous marshes and sloughs which provide habitat for migrating and wintering waterfowl, wading birds and shore birds as well as diverse aquatic life.
- Bring your own drinking water.
- Restrooms unavailable.
- Flooding may occur during heavy rains, so be prepared to move to higher ground.
- ATVs allowed only during special permit hunts.
- Each permit holder may possess one dog while hunting waterfowl, squirrels or rabbits. Companion dogs must be leashed or confined within designated campsites.