Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Natural wildlife refuge in Mississippi County, Arkansas.
Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge is a federally protected area in northeastern Arkansas made up of shallow water, swamp, and hardwood forest. It sits in Mississippi County along the former course of the Little River, which was reshaped into a broad wetland by seismic activity centuries ago.
A series of powerful earthquakes centered near New Madrid between 1811 and 1812 caused the ground to drop and flood, turning the Little River into a shallow lake. The federal government set it aside as a protected refuge in 1915, making it one of the earliest wildlife refuges established in the country.
The name Big Lake comes from the shallow lake formed by the earthquake-driven collapse of the land, which still defines how the area looks and feels today. Visitors can watch both anglers and birdwatchers moving through the same floodplain forests and open water zones, each drawn by something different.
The refuge is open throughout the year, though heavy rain can flood access roads and cut off parts of the area without much notice. It helps to check in advance which zones are open for fishing or walking, since conditions can change quickly between seasons.
The landscape here still shows the physical marks left by the 1811 to 1812 earthquakes, with sunken ground and irregular water pockets that do not follow any natural river pattern. These depressions make the terrain unlike almost any other wetland in the country, giving the area a geometry shaped entirely by seismic force rather than by water erosion.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
