Editor's Note: Today's article on Caddo Lake State Park is part of an on-going series that looks at the state of Texas' parks by Cox East Texas newspapers.

Caddo Lake, Caddo Lake State Park's main attraction, is probably the most treasured, fought over and thought over body of water in Texas.

It is certainly the state's only natural lake, and looks more like a South Louisiana swamp, featuring bald cypress trees towering above shallow green water dotted with lily pads.

Alligators inhabit the lake – located in Harrison and Marion Counties, and in Louisiana – as do bald eagles, turtles, snakes (including the water moccasin), nutrias and beaver, according to naturalists.

A steamboat operator reported in 2005 she had spotted an ivory-billed woodpecker flying through one of the lake's bald cypress forests. Many naturalists and bird-watchers believe the ivory billed woodpecker, once believed extinct, can still be found in wilderness areas.

Caddo is so rich in wildlife species that a 6,000-acre national wildlife refuge has been created adjacent to the lake and will soon be open to the public.