The Little River Bottoms is 18,000 acres of nearly contiguous lowland habitat bounded by AR-355 on the east, the Little River watershed on the south, and Millwood Lake IBA on the west and north. This land is composed of flood-basin swamp, bottomland hardwoods, wetlands, cypress brakes, savannahs, and wetland grassy areas. It is among the largest contiguous tracts of bottomland hardwoods anywhere in the Gulf Coastal Plain of the U.S. The area has been protected by several private hunting clubs as wildlife habitat for over a century. Nacatoch Ravines Natural Area (AR Natural Heritage Commission) and Little River Wildlife Management Area (AR Game & Fish Commission) are part of the IBA.

Within the Little River Bottoms, Grassy Lake and the Yellow Creek drainage have been designated by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission as an “Ecologically Sensitive Waterbody.” Grassy Lake was evaluated by the National Park Service as a potential Natural National Landmark because it “contains the finest example of a sizeable stand of virgin baldcypress in Arkansas.” The Little River Bottoms supports many plant and animal species of conservation concern at the state and continental levels. It has the largest breeding population of American Alligators in Arkansas, supports nationally significant nesting colonies of wading and waterbirds, and contains some of the oldest (> 350 year old) baldcypress trees in Arkansas. The North American Bird Conservation Initiative identified the Little River Bottoms watershed as critical waterfowl and neotropical migrant bird habitat. In general, the biotic diversity of this area is among the greatest of any area or ecosystem in Arkansas. http://www.ar.audubon.org/images/IBA/LittleRiverBottoms.jpg

The site supports what may be the largest waterbird rookery in the state with over 11,000 herons, egrets, night-herons, bitterns, ibis, and Anhingas. A significant proportion of the state’s breeding Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks, Anhingas, Snowy Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, Cattle Egrets, Black-crowned Night-Herons, White Ibises, Purple Gallinules, and Common Moorhens breed on site. Thousands of wintering waterfowl gather in the cypress stands as well.

Southwestern Electric Power Company proposes to build a coal-fired power plant adjacent to the east side of the IBA. The power plant threatens birds with air and water contamination from emissions (SO2, NOx, Hg, and particulates), habitat fragmentation through establishment of power line corridors, disturbance through construction activities and increased rail and road traffic, invasion of exotic species and nest predators along power line corridors, avian collisions with tall structures and powerlines, and the long-term effects of global warming. In addition, the plant will draw 10 million gallons of water per day from Millwood Lake through the Little River, and release warmed water.

The area’s natural hydrological cycle was eliminated by the Millwood dam. This has resulted in impaired water quality (no overbank flooding and flushing), sedimentation, excessive emergent and submergent vegetation (e.g. pennywort, lotus, loosestrife), increased cypress tree mortality but decreased regeneration, and decreased waterfowl abundance and diversity. The Army Corps of Engineers and AR Game and Fish Commission are working on a water management plan for the system.