Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge

01/04/2026

The December meeting of the Lower Trinity Valley Bird Club will be held on Thursday, January 8, 2026 at 6:30 pm at the Mont Belvieu Methodist Church, 10629 Eagle Dr., Mont Belvieu, TX 77523.

The presentation will be on Purple Martins by Jace Stansbury, a Texas Master Naturalist, with 32 years’ experience as a Purple Martin Landlord and an active member of the Purple Martin Conservation Association. Jace’s presentation will increase our knowledge of Purple Martins and explain what it means to be a Purple Martin landlord. Learn more about this fascinating bird and its unique relationship with people.

If you have any questions, call President Gary Holmes at 713-366-1722 or e-mail him at [email protected]

10/24/2025

Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge will offer weekend waterfowl hunt opportunities on the Champion Lake Unit during the 2025–2026 season. Single-day, first-come, first-served permits will be available by email during the shortened hunt season from November 8, 2025, to January 25, 2026. Learn more:

Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1994 to protect a remnant of the bottomland hardwood forest found along the Trinity River. The 30,000-acre refuge is part of the National Wildlife Refuge System – a national network of lands and waters set aside and managed for the benefit ...

06/30/2025

Picketts Bayou is OPEN. Champion and all other Day Use areas are still closed. Please let us know if you have questions.

06/25/2025

UPDATED NOTICE: Due to flooding along the Trinity River, Champion Lake Day Use Area located at the end of CR 417, 10 miles south of Dayton, TX continues to be CLOSED until further notice. This includes Pickett’s Bayou. When water levels drop below the deck of the fishing pier, we will reopen the the area for public Use. In addition, due to high water, all of our Day Use Areas are currently closed until further notice, as well. For any updates or questions, please check back here or call our office at 936-336-9786 during office hours of Monday-Friday 8 am - 4:30 pm.

06/07/2025

NOTICE: Due to flooding along the Trinity River, Champion Lake Day Use Area located at the end of CR 417, 10 miles south of Dayton, TX is CLOSED until further notice. This includes Pickett’s Bayou. When water levels drop below the deck of the fishing pier, we will reopen the the area for public Use.

In addition, due to high water, all of our Day Use Areas are currently closed until further notice, as well.

For any updates or questions, please check back here or call our office at 936-336-9786 during office hours of Monday-Friday 8 am - 4:30 pm.

12/27/2024

2024/25Hunt Announcement

Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge is announcing its Waterfowl Hunt operations for the 2024-2025 season. We will be offering single day first come, first serve permits by email for weekend hunt opportunity on the Champion Lake Unit during our shortened Waterfowl hunt season January 4, 2025 to January 26, 2025. The cost per day will be $10 per person with a maximum of 4 hunters per hunt party. Youth hunters (age 16 and under) are free.
Check or Money Order will be the only acceptable forms of payment. Cash or Credit Cards WILL NOT be accepted. Permit will be presented to hunter when payment is received on the day of the hunt.
First come, first served reservations will be accepted by email only on Tuesday morning between 8 am and 10 am on a weekly basis for that weekend. All emails and applications need to be sent to Bonnie Campisi at [email protected]. The waterfowl application form (OMB 3-2355) must be attached to the email along with a list of your hunt party. See attached sample application. In the application hunters must choose up to five hunt holes on Line 6. Hunters who receive a spot will be notified no later than Wednesday morning by NOON for their selected day hunt. One application per email. (Example: If you want to hunt both days, a separate emailed application must be sent for each day.) Multiple applications in one email will NOT be accepted. Prior to entry, the permittee must pay for the permit, in person, before other members of the hunt party are granted entry. Reservations are nontransferable.
For more information, contact Bonnie Campisi at [email protected] or call 936-336-9786.

REQUIREMENTS

All hunting shotguns must be unloaded and encased while in transit through the Refuge and Lake.

Youth hunters must be under direct and visual supervision of an adult 18 or older.

After unloading boat and equipment, all trailers and vehicles must park in Refuge parking lot at the top of the hill.

Hunters must stay 400 yards or more from the shoreline (However, we may make exceptions during low water).

Hunters must stay as a group in or around the same boat/blind and hunt within 100 feet of the numbered hunt area. Minimum distance between hunt parties is 150 yards.

Vehicles, boats and trailers must meet all State/Coast Guard regulations before entering the Refuge. Non-compliant equipment will NOT be allowed to enter or hunt.

PERMITTED

Only shells containing approved non-toxic shot; temporary blinds (blinds, decoys, boats, and all other equipment must be removed daily); running motors are limited to 10 HP or less; retrievers (must be under control of the owner and caged or leashed at boat ramp).

Only small limbs (no cypress limbs, less than one inch diameter) and grass type vegetation can be used for temporary blinds.

PROHIBITED

Use, possession, or being under the influence of alcohol while hunting, accessing or returning from the field; driving nails, spikes, or other metal objects into trees; hunting from trees that require removing branches greater than one inch in diameter; clearing or cutting any live vegetation for a shooting lane; cutting any live cypress tree limbs.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Access to waterfowl hunting on Champion Lake is by boat only. Hunt within the confines of the Lake as defined by the map on the permit.

Hunters are encouraged to scout area before season starts to avoid problems. Champion Lake is open daily from sunrise to sunset. A compass or GPS unit should be with you.

Alligators, snakes, mosquitoes, and fire ants live in the lake. Be aware of these potential hazards. Cell phones may not work.

Hunters may enter the Refuge no earlier than 4:30 am. All hunters must check in and out at DUCK CHECK STATION (red building)

Hunting starts at legal shooting time and you must be out by noon. Hunts are only on assigned Saturdays and Sundays during the Regular Waterfowl hunting season.

10/22/2024

Attention Waterfowl Hunters
As you can see in the photos attached, Champion Lake is DRY. We only have 1 hunt hole that has water. That being said, pray or do a dance for some rain. We will NOT have a duck hunt in till we get some water back in the Lake.
Please keep in touch with Bonnie at [email protected] for updates.

10/08/2024

Press Release. Friends of the Trinity River Refuge – Walk for the Wild Oct. 12, 2024
Looking for a great reason to get outside, hang out with nature without going too far? Come check out the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge at Champion Lake for the annual Walk for the Wild. Starting at Brookshire Brothers in Dayton, it’s just 10 miles down FM 1409 to the Refuge’s Walk for the Wild 2024 event. This year’s occasion is Saturday October 12th from 9 am to 1 pm.
Bring your walking shoes, enjoy the 5K (3.1 miles) self-guided walk from the lake’s edge along cypress swamp and East Texas hardwood forest. It won’t be hard to spot one of the resident alligators sunning on a log. Be sure to stop by the pier and chat with the Lower Trinity Valley Bird Club as they conduct their annual Big Sit. With spotting scopes and binoculars, they’ll help you locate some of the dozens of birds counted that day. If you’re lucky, you might spot a new visitor to the lake, a Limpkin. The Refuge is surrounded by water, if you have a kayak, paddle and life jacket, you can paddle Pickett’s Bayou. Trained kayakers will be on hand.
Since the Refuge is loaded with nature, in our own backyard as we say, visit with local Texas Master Naturalists to learn which species make their home in Liberty County. Walk for the Wild has a historical aspect found a few yards from the parking lot at the Casa de los Patos log cabin style lodge. Learn from volunteers about the current renovations plans to transform the lodge into a working educational landmark.
Walk for the Wild is a nationwide event conducted in part by the Public Lands Alliance, the National Wildlife Refuge system and local volunteers from the Friends of Trinity River Refuge. There is an opportunity to support the hard work conducted at the Refuge. Funds raised from this event will directly support wildlife conservation, nature trails, and environmental education in our community. Greater details can be found at: https://www.friendsoftrinityriverrefuge.org/about-3
https://www.publiclandsalliance.org/ame.../walk-for-the-wild
https://www.facebook.com/publiclandsalliance

10/01/2024

Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge will be hosting the Annual Butterfly Count for northern Liberty County on Sunday, October 20, 2024. Areas to be counted include the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge and Tarkington Prairie. Our meeting location is the Shell Fuel Max Gas station located at the intersection of Hwy 105 and FM 2518 at 9:00 am.

We will survey the "bottoms" so be sure to bring a sack lunch, rubber knee boots (if it has recently rained) and other appropriate outdoor clothing. Butterfly enthusiasts of all levels are welcome. If you have any questions, you can contact Stuart Marcus at [email protected]

07/12/2024

Moth Night Out Event at Trinity River Refuge

Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge will be hosting its Annual Moth Night Out Event, Saturday evening on July 20, 2024 as part of National Moth Week events occurring across the country. Interested folks will meet at the Refuge Headquarters building at 9:00 pm to see and photograph some of the over 1,000 species of moths documented around the building’s security lights. Black lights and mercury v***r lights will also be used.

National Moth Week provides a much-needed spotlight on moths and their ecological importance as well as their incredible biodiversity. National Moth Week offers everyone, everywhere a unique opportunity to become a Citizen Scientist and contribute scientific data about moths. Numerous organizations around the world have partnered with National Moth Week and are supporting the event. Through partnerships with major online biological data depositories, National Moth Week participants can help map moth distribution and provide needed information on other life history aspects around the globe.

Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters building is located at 601 FM 1011 Liberty, TX. It is directly across the street from the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center.

Call the Refuge office at 936/336-9786 for more information. All ages are invited, but we will be here until late in the evening. It will also be hot and muggy. Hope to see many new faces, especially children, on July 20th.