Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge

In 1958, under the authority of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, the area surrounding Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was designated as closed to the hunting or taking of migratory birds. The Migratory Bird Closure Zone surrounded the original 4,068-acre area of the refuge and covered an additional 2,732 acres along the Arkansas River and the cutoff channel. The refuge manages 441 acres of the closure zone that are outside the refuge fee title boundary.

The refuge is recognized by the National Audubon Society as an Important Bird Area (IBA) that supports the bald eagle [Haliaeetus leucocephalus], which was federally listed as “Threatened” at the time that Holla Bend NWR was designated as an IBA. In July 2007, the bald eagle population of the lower 48 states was ruled to be “recovered” and the species was removed from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife, alongside 23 other species considered to be “of conservation concern” at the state level. Audubon Arkansas also characterizes the refuge as an “outstanding stopover site” for migratory landbirds. Holla Bend NWR was recognized as a Global IBA in 2008 for its population of a globally threatened species, the rusty blackbird.

A 100-acre tract of cottonwood-dominated bottomland forest in the northeastern corner of the refuge is formally designated as a Research Natural Area (RNA). The RNA serves as an experimental control for monitoring the effects of forest management activities elsewhere on the refuge, and also provides researchers an opportunity to document natural successional changes in this habitat as it matures.