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Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge is an 11,047 acre (45 km²) wildlife refuge located in Mississippi County, Arkansas managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. It is situated east of Manila, Arkansas and consists mostly of a shallow lake, swamp, and bottomland hardwood forests. The preservation of habitat for waterfowl in an intensely agricultural region is the primary purpose of the refuge. 6,400 acres (20 km²) of Big Lake is classified as a National Natural Landmark and 2,144 acres (8 km²) are classified as wilderness. ==History== Prior to the New Madrid Earthquakes in 1811-1812 the Little River flowed unimpeded through the flat lowlands adjacent to the Mississippi River in Arkansas and the Missouri Bootheel. The earthquake altered the drainage pattern of the region and created Big Lake. The region was known to the first White settlers as the "Great Swamp" and consisted of hardwood forests, especially Bald Cypress, wooded swampland, and open water.〔"Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge", ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture'', http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2418, accessed 19 Jan 2015〕 After the American Civil War railroads were built through the region and exploitation of the timber began. The Big Lake area was also popular with hunters because of its abundant waterfowl. Market hunters killed White tail deer and ducks and netted largemouth bass and crappie to sell the meat in cities and hunting clubs acquired large tracts for sport hunting. This created problems with the local residents who depended upon hunting for subsistence. Locals, mostly poor, were shut out of land acquired by hunting clubs and timber companies. The result was the "Big Lake Wars" from the 1870s to 1915 which pitted the locals against the sportsmen and market hunters. Legal disputes as well as fights, shootings, and burnings of clubhouses resulted.〔"Big Lake Wars", ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture'', http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=7591, accessed 19 Jan 2015〕 In the early twentieth century, rice cultivation was established in Arkansas and soon the region around Big Lake was crisscrossed with levees and drainage and irrigation ditches, leaving Big Lake as an island in a sea of agricultural cultivation. In 1915, With the wildlife populations seriously in decline and agricultural development increasing, the U.S. government established Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge, the third oldest inland federal wildlife refuges to be created. The large network of man-made ditches in the Missouri bootheel region drains of former swamp land. The non-natural drainage adversely affects the refuge. Silt from agricultural lands was impacting Big Lake, but in the 1990s the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers undertook to divert silt-laden water around the refuge. Water quality has improved and wildlife populations have increased as a result.〔"Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge", ''Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture'', http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2418, accessed 19 Jan 2015〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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