Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge is an 11,038 acre (45 km²) wildlife refuge located in Mississippi County, Arkansas managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge was created in 1915 by President Woodrow Wilson after local residents became concerned that agricultural interests were destroying the natural environment of the area. It is situated 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Manila, Arkansas. 5,000 acres (20 km²) of Big Lake is classified as a National Natural Landmark and 2,100 acres (8 km²) are classified as wilderness. The refuge consists of 5,250 acres (21 km²) of swampland, 2,600 acres (11 km²) of open water, 2,100 acres (8 km²) of bottomland hardwoods, 3300 acres (13 km²) of marsh, and 282 acres (1 km²) of other types. The contiguous Hornersville Swamp Conservation Area, owned and managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation, contributes an additional 3,166 acres (12.81 km2) that are also protected and managed for native wildlife.
The area that makes up the refuge was originally part of a free-flowing river system but the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811 and 1812 changed the topography into the swampy wetlands seen today.
The refuge was once a portion of the Mississippi River but now the Little River flows through the refuge. A large network of man-made ditches in the Missouri Bootheel region drain 2,000 miles (3,000 km) of farmland through the refuge. This non-natural drainage adversely affects the refuge itself.
Big Lake plays host to wintering and migrating ducks. The area is also the habitat for the bald eagle and osprey.
Famous quotes containing the words big, lake, national, wildlife and/or refuge:
“It is possible that the telephone has been responsible for more business inefficiency than any other agency except laudanum.... In the old days when you wanted to get in touch with a man you wrote a note, sprinkled it with sand, and gave it to a man on horseback. It probably was delivered within half an hour, depending on how big a lunch the horse had had. But in these busy days of rush-rush-rush, it is sometimes a week before you can catch your man on the telephone.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“This is my lake country.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men’s language. Of course women learn it. We’re not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man’s world, so it talks a man’s language.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“Russian forests crash down under the axe, billions of trees are dying, the habitations of animals and birds are layed waste, rivers grow shallow and dry up, marvelous landscapes are disappearing forever.... Man is endowed with creativity in order to multiply that which has been given him; he has not created, but destroyed. There are fewer and fewer forests, rivers are drying up, wildlife has become extinct, the climate is ruined, and the earth is becoming ever poorer and uglier.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)