Tennessee National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Refuge

National Wildlife Refuge is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the world's premiere system of public lands and waters set aside to conserve America's fish, wildlife and plants...

 established in 1945 and located along the shores of the Tennessee River

Tennessee River

The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names...

 in West Tennessee

West Tennessee

West Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of the State of Tennessee. Of the three, it is the one that is most sharply defined geographically. Its boundaries are the Mississippi River on the west and the Tennessee River on the east...

 where the empoundment of Kentucky Lake

Kentucky Lake

Kentucky Lake is a major navigable reservoir along the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. Created in 1944 by the Tennessee Valley Authority's impounding of the Tennessee River by Kentucky Dam, the lake is the largest artificial lake by surface area in the United States east of the...

 by the Tennessee Valley Authority

Tennessee Valley Authority

The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...

 has created a more-or-less permanent wetlands environment favored by many species of waterfowl. The entire refuge area is 51,359.46 acres (207.84 km²) in three units: From north to south (going upstream) they are Big Sandy (Benton and Henry counties), Duck River (Benton and Humphreys

Humphreys County, Tennessee

Humphreys County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 17,929. The 2005 Census Estimate placed the population at 18,212. Its county seat is Waverly.-Geography:According to the U.S...

 counties), and Busseltown (Decatur County).