The Tishomingo National Wildlife Refuge (TNWR) lies at the upper Washita arm of Lake Texoma and is administered for the benefit of migratory waterfowl in the Central Flyway. Most of the refuge's 16,464 acres, including the 4,500-acre Cumberland Pool, were acquired in 1946. The refuge gets its name from a famous Chickasaw Indian Chief and is shared with a nearby century-old town.

The refuge offers a variety of aquatic habitats for wildlife. The murky water of Cumberland Pool provides abundant nutrients for innumerable microscopic plants and animals. Seasonally flooded flats and willow shallows lying at the Pool's edge also provide excellent wildlife habitat. Upland areas vary from grasslands to wild plum thickets to oak-hickory-elm woodlands. Crops, primarily wheat and corn, are grown on approximately 900 acres to provide forage and grain for waterfowl.

• The refuge hosts thousands of waterfowl each winter
• More than 250 bird species have been recorded at the refuge, including abundant breeding, migrating, and/or wintering populations of prothonotary warbler, painted bunting, Swainson’s thrush, barred and screech owls, bald eagle, and more
• Other species of interest include white-tailed deer, cottontail, fox squirrel, raccoon, beaver, river otter, possum, not to mention the abundant butterfly, dragonfly, and fish populations