A viewing platform overlooking Compartment 1 is available, but access must be arranged. Late spring and summer are the best times to view least bitterns and other common bird species found in the coastal marshland. A small boat with outboard motor can be launched at a public boat ramp under the Texas 73 bridge. After a short ride on Taylor Bayou to the levees and ditches, visitors can get a much closer view of a variety of birds.

This Wildlife Management Area is one of many wildlife viewing sites along the Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail — see more information, on the Texas Parks and Wildlife — Great Texas Coastal Birding Trail interactive map.

In 1963, the Wildlife Management Area (WMA) was named in honor of John David Murphree, a Texas Game Warden who was murdered by a duck poacher in Jasper County.

The original 8,200 acres of land for the wildlife management area was purchased in 1957 from the William Perry Herring McFaddin heirs. The McFaddin family owned thousands of acres of land of which some was received for service in the Texas army during the Texas Revolution. William M. McFaddin, his son William Perry Herring McFaddin and family were pioneer settlers in the Beaumont area who were involved in ranching, rice farming, commercial, fur trapping, and searching for oil.

The J. D. Murphree WMA is a 25,852-acre tract of fresh, intermediate and brackish water coastal marsh on the upper coast of Texas. These wetlands are part of the Texas Chenier Plain, the westernmost geologic delta of the Mississippi River. The original 8,312 acres of the Big Hill Unit were acquired in 1958 using funds generated by waterfowl stamp and hunting license sales. The Lost Lake Unit was acquired in 1983 through mitigation. In August 1997, 11,231.23-acre tract was added to the Area in a trade of Sheldon WMA lands for lands in Sea Rim State Park. This acreage was added to the Lost Lake Unit and re-designated as the Salt Bayou Unit (15,595 acres). In 2019, an additional 1,280 acres of freshwater marsh was added to the Big Hill Unit. The Area represents the coastal marshes of the Texas Chenier Plain and is managed as wetland habitat with a special emphasis on migratory waterfowl habitat. The Hillebrandt Unit (591 acres) was added to the Area as mitigation in 1987.

The WMA headquarters is on the south side of Highway 73 near the intersection of Jade Avenue in Port Arthur.