Ward Bayou Wildlife Management Area
Nature preserve
2,307 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
C−Outdoors
Outdoors in Vancleave
15% of Vancleave’s land is conserved: 4,027 acres
3 acres are parks and preserves, 0.6 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 16% of U.S. towns · #84 of 101 in Mississippi. What drives it
Conserved land
15%
4,027 acres · of 43.1 sq mi of land
Trails
0.0 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
3 ac
0.6 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
under 1%
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
9
What kind of outdoors town is Vancleave?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Vancleave have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Vancleave is ahead of 16% of U.S. towns, #84 of 101 in Mississippi. Conserved land holds the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
C−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Vancleave’s overall grade.
Conserved land15% of the land · typical MS town 2% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · MS 0.1 · U.S. 0.4DPark land0.6 acres of park per 1,000 residents (3 acres) · MS 8 · U.S. 13DParks close to home0% of residents within a half mile of a park · MS 46% · U.S. 72%D−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 16%
LessMore
Mississippi towns of 2,500+ (101)Ahead of 17%
Few Mississippi towns conserve much land (a typical one, 2%; the U.S., 4%), so Vancleave’s 15% is ahead of 92% of Mississippi towns, while its trails per square mile lead 6% of them.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Vancleave. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to C. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge
Nature preserve
576 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
4,027 conserved acres
15% of Vancleave’s land. Who manages Vancleave’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service944 ac
State land board608 ac
Other state land423 ac
Not recorded2,542 ac
Unknown · 2,464 acNational Wildlife Refuge · 944 acState Resource Management Area · 608 acState Conservation Area · 423 acPrivate Conservation · 78 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 4 of 9 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ward Bayou Wma Unknown | Not recorded | 2,534 | Unknown |
| Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 944 | Restricted |
| Mississippi 16th Section Public School Trust Lands State Resource Management Area | State land board | 608 | Open |
| Pascagoula River Coastal Reserve State Conservation Area | Other state land | 423 | Restricted |
| Pascagoula Wma Unknown | Not recorded | 8 | Unknown |
Things to do
1 places to go in Vancleave
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Vancleave
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
9 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
10Baseball
6Tennis
1Multi-sport
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Vancleave: April and May
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 10.4 | 11.1 | 11.9 | 12.9 | 13.7 | 14.1 | 13.9 | 13.2 | 12.3 | 11.4 | 10.6 | 10.2 |
| High (°F) | 62 | 66 | 72 | 78 | 85 | 90 | 91 | 91 | 88 | 80 | 71 | 64 |
| Rain (in) | 5.6 | 4.3 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.2 | 6.6 | 7.8 | 6.9 | 5.8 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 5.1 |
October is the driest month (3.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 91 °F). 7.8 inches fall in July, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 91 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Vancleave →
Next door
Vancleave and its neighbors
Vancleave has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vancleave | 15% | under 0.1 | 1 | under 1% | C− |
| Gautier | 26% | 0.2 | 9 | 27% | B− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Vancleave
How much of Vancleave is conserved land?
15% of its land, against a typical 2% for a Mississippi town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Vancleave’s trails?
Ward Bayou Wildlife Management Area and Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Vancleave?
19,729 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Vancleave or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 3 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Vancleave have?
Ahead of 16% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #84 of 101 in Mississippi. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Vancleave neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →