The Nature Conservancy purchased an 11,255.51-acre core tract from the Fisher Lumber Company, a subsidiary of General Motors Corporation. The Conservancy then sold the land to the USFWS over a span of 5 years. Cocodrie Bayou is designated as a state scenic river. The bottomland hardwoods at Bayou Cocodrie NWR have been noted as some of the last remaining, least disturbed timber in the Mississippi River Delta.