The Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is a 76,000 acre (307.56 km²)

national wildlife refuge National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to c ...

located in south-central

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Ashley Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

Bradley Bradley is an English surname derived from a place name meaning "broad wood" or "broad meadow" in Old English. Like many English surnames Bradley can also be used as a given name and as such has become popular. It is also an Anglicisation of t ...

, and

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

counties. Felsenthal NWR is one of three refuges forming an administrative complex, which also includes Pond Creek NWR to the northwest and Overflow NWR to the east.

Habitat and Wildlife

Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) is a

wetlands A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

complex located on the confluence of the Saline and

Ouachita River The Ouachita River ( ) is a river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana. It is the 25th-longest river in the United States ( ...

s. The refuge is dissected by an intricate system of rivers, creeks,

sloughs A slough ( or ) is a wetland, usually a swamp or shallow lake, often a backwater to a larger body of water. Water tends to be stagnant or may flow slowly on a seasonal basis. In North America, "slough" may refer to a side-channel from or feedin ...

, and lakes throughout a

bottomland hardwood forest The bottomland hardwood forest is a type of deciduous and evergreen hardwood forest found in broad lowland floodplains along large rivers and lakes in the United States and elsewhere. They are occasionally flooded, which builds up the alluvial soi ...

that rises to an upland forest community. The Felsenthal basin holds approximately 15,000 acres of water that can double to over 36,000 acres during periods of heavy flooding. Felsenthal NWR's habitat diversity supports a large amount of

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

. Over 1,150 species of plants and animals have been documented on the refuge. Felsenthal NWR is the only national wildlife refuge in Arkansas with a population of the federally-protected

red-cockaded woodpecker The red-cockaded woodpecker (''Leuconotopicus borealis'') is a woodpecker endemic to the southeastern United States. Description The red-cockaded woodpecker is small to mid-sized species, being intermediate in size between North America's two ...

. The refuge has been recognized as part of a globally

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

by the

National Audubon Society The National Audubon Society (Audubon; ) is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation of birds and their habitats. Located in the United States and incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organ ...

History

Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1975 as mitigation for the creation of the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

’ Ouachita-Black Rivers Navigation Project and Felsenthal Lock and Dam. The refuge also protects over 200 Native American archaeological sites, primarily of

Caddo The Caddo people comprise the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe headquartered in Binger, Oklahoma. They speak the Caddo language. The Caddo Confederacy was a network of Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, wh ...

origin. These sites include the remains of seasonal fishing camps, ceremonial plazas, temple mounds, and large villages. Archaeological sites are closed to the public to protect them from degradation.

References

External links

Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge's Official Website
National Wildlife Refuges in Arkansas Protected areas of Ashley County, Arkansas Protected areas of Bradley County, Arkansas Protected areas of Union County, Arkansas Wetlands of Arkansas Landforms of Ashley County, Arkansas Landforms of Bradley County, Arkansas Ouachita River {{Arkansas-protected-area-stub