How many alligators call Oklahoma home? Wildlife Department wants to find out

State wildlife officials want to learn more about alligators in Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation recently announced it is partnering with Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant and Southwestern Adventist University in Keene, Texas, on a two-year research study of alligators in southeast Oklahoma.

"A lot of people have no idea we have alligators in Oklahoma," said Micah Holmes, assistant chief of information and education for the Wildlife Department.

The core of the alligator population in the state is located on the Red Slough Wildlife Management Area in far southeastern Oklahoma. State wildlife officials say southeastern Oklahoma is at the western edge of the American alligator's home range.

Holmes said researchers from the universities will attempt to learn how many alligators call Oklahoma home and whether they are spreading to areas outside of the Red Slough.

"We assume they are because there is pretty good habitat all in that area, but how much and how far?" Holmes said. "That is the kind of things we want to know."

Researchers will be trapping and tagging alligators with transmitters to learn about their movements in McCurtain County and beyond.

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An alligator hunt one day?

Robert Bastarache, a biologist for the U.S. Forest Service in southeastern Oklahoma, stated on social media that the research study would also help the Wildlife Department determine whether to allow alligator hunting, but Holmes said that is not the goal of the project.

"This research is not motivated to have a hunting season, necessarily," Holmes said. "We just need to get the basic baseline information before we could even consider something like that. There is a lot we don't know about American alligators in Oklahoma.

"If one day we found out there was a really high population and it is a population that could sustain hunting, that is not out of the realm of possibility, but that is not what we are really trying to do with this study."

If there is alligator hunting in Oklahoma's future, it more than likely would be done through the Wildlife Department's controlled hunts, where hunters apply and have their name drawn for special hunts.

"But we are a long ways away from any of those kind of discussions," Holmes said.

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Native to Oklahoma

Alligators are native to the Gulf Coastal Plain of southeastern Oklahoma, occurring in the Red and Little River systems of Choctaw, McCurtain, Bryan and Love counties.

"We have had alligators in Oklahoma for a long time," Holmes said. "Historically, that area down there has always been alligator country. Like a lot of animal species, deer, turkey, bear and alligator included, they were hunted out pretty hard by poaching and overharvest (in early statehood days). A lot of those populations have rebounded."

Sightings of alligators have increased in recent years, mainly in the Little River drainage systems. On the Red Slough, alligators live on reclaimed rice farms that are part of 2,500 acres of wetlands on the 5,814-acre wildlife management area.

In 2005, the first alligator nests were discovered on the Red Slough.

In February 2021, alligators on the Red Slough made national news when the Red Slough wetlands froze during the record Arctic blast. Photos of alligators lifting their snouts out of air holes in the ice were shared on social media and went viral. It is a technique that biologists call icing or snorkeling to help the alligators breathe.

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History of the Red Slough

The Red Slough, located southeast of Idabel, also is considered one of the premium bird watching destinations in the state with 320 different species being documented there, an amazing number of birds for 5,800 acres of grounds. It is the site of an annual birding convention each May.

The Red Slough is cooperatively managed by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, U.S. Forest Service, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Habitat consists of reclaimed rice farm fields, bottomland hardwoods, small areas of open prairie and replanted hardwood areas.

The alligators on the Red Slough reside among the many ponds, oxbow lakes and wetlands on the wildlife management area.

In the late 1960s, the Red Slough area was converted from a forested wetland, with open expanses of water and hardwood forests, to rice fields. In 1996, landowner Philip Hogan enrolled 5,814 acres of his Push Creek Farm into the Wetlands Reserve Program (WRP) administered by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).

The WRP is a voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property. NRCS constructed over 25 miles of dike and installed 18 water control structures to restore the hydrologic conditions and wetland functions of the Red Slough.

Hogan's enrollment of his property into the WRP began the Red Slough Wetlands Reserve Project. In 1997, The Conservation Fund (TCF) purchased 3,855 acres from Hogan.

The Conservation Fund donated that acreage to the Ouachita National Forest to be put into public ownership. This is the tract that began the Red Slough Wildlife Management Area (WMA) and forms the heart of the Red Slough Wetland Reserve Project.

In 2000, TCF purchased the remaining 1,959 acres from Hogan. Between 2000 and 2004, the Ouachita National Forest acquired those remaining acres from TCF. The Red Slough WMA presently consists of 5,814 acres, all of Hogan's original enrollment.

The resurrection of Red Slough led to the return of abundant wildlife to the region, including alligators.

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The Claremore gator

Occasionally, an alligator will show up in a pond or lake in Oklahoma where one would not expect to find it, like Claremore.

In May, state wildlife officials euthanized a 9 ½-foot alligator that was found in Claremore Lake. In such cases, it's likely the alligator was released into the lake by someone who had been keeping the animal in captivity.

"We have no idea where that alligator came from, but based on the location and the size of the alligator, we are assuming somebody had something to do with it," Holmes said. "It wouldn't live that long that far north, and if it did, it wouldn't grow to be that big."

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A diverse state for wildlife

The fact that Oklahoma has a native population of alligators, even though it might be small, is another example of the state's wildlife diversity.

Black bears and alligators live in southeastern Oklahoma. In the opposite corner of the state in northwest Oklahoma, the Panhandle is home to antelope and even a few bighorn sheep.

"We say mile for mile we are the most diverse state (for wildlife)," Holmes said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma Wildlife Department wants to learn more about alligators