Cache River National Wildlife Refuge
| Cache River National Wildlife Refuge | |
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IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
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 Map of the United States
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| Location | Arkansas, United States |
| Coordinates | 35°03′30″N 91°19′45″W / 35.05833°N 91.32917°WCoordinates: 35°03′30″N 91°19′45″W / 35.05833°N 91.32917°W |
| Area | 68,993 acres (279.20 km2) |
| Established | 1986 |
| Governing body | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
| Website | Cache River NWR |
| Designated | November 21, 1989 |
The Cache River National Wildlife Refuge is a 68,993 acre (223 km2) (2014) wildlife refuge in the state of Arkansas managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS#. The refuge is one of the Ramsar wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention signed in 1971. It is one of the most important wintering area for ducks and the largest remaining tract of contiguous bottomland hardwood forest on the North American continent. In 2005, a possible sighting of the ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to be extinct, brought attention to the refuge.
In 2012, the FWS proposed the gradual expansion of the refuge up to a maximum of 287,574 acres (116,377 ha).
In the 1970s, duck hunters prevented the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from dredging and straightening the Cache River. The conservation movement led to the establishment of the National Wildlife Refuge in 1986. The nearby town of Stuttgart, Arkansas calls itself the "Rice and Duck Capital of the World." The National Wildlife Refuge runs along the flood-plain of the Cache River for 70 miles (100 km) from the Cache River's mouth at Clarendon, Arkansas to the town of Grubbs, Arkansas. The refuge encompasses land in the Arkansas counties of Jackson, Woodruff, Prairie, and Monroe.
The Cache River NWR has gradually expanded to its present size through acquisition from private owners of land. Most of the land in the refuge, and that planned for acquisition, had been drained and used for agriculture. The long-term goal is to re-forest former farming areas with native vegetation along the meandering sloughs, oxbow lakes, swamps, and bald cypress forests of the Cache River and Bayou De View. The Cache River NWR already preserves the largest tract of contiguous bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the United States.
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