The Vascular Flora of Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge, Stewart County, Tennessee

Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge is a 3,588 ha (8,862 acre) unit owned and managed by the U.S. Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, to provide food, water, and cover for resident, migratory, and wintering waterfowl. It was established in 1962 and extends for 16.09 river km (10 river miles) on both sides of the Cumberland River (Lake Barkley) between Dover and Cumberland City, Stewart County, Tennessee. Most of the refuge is on river bottomland that was agricultural prior to 1962. Management practices include moist-soil crops for wildlife, agricultural production, successional fields, and 16 managed pools where dams, levees, and floodgates allow water level manipulation. The Cumberland River and five major tributaries are permanently impounded with seasonal variations in pool levels. Various wetland habitat and community types occur, including marshes, swamps, dewatered zones, bottomland forests, and permanent deep water. The goal of the project was to conduct a floristic survey of the refuge, exclusive of a few peripheral uplands. Seventy-eight collecting trips between July 1990 and June 1992 yielded 633 taxa representing 367 genera and 116 families. Seven of these taxa are state and/or federally listed.