Walker Lake Refuge

Walker Lake Refuge, Arkansas’s first national game preserve, was created on April 21, 1913, by President Woodrow Wilson’s executive order No. 1763, for “use of the Department of Agriculture as a resort and breeding ground for native birds.” Located in Mississippi County between Number Nine (Mississippi County) and the Mississippi River, the refuge covered 14.68 acres, a small part of the much larger Walker Lake cypress swamp. The refuge was in use until 1926.

Northeastern Arkansas had many lakes and swamps formed by the New Madrid Earthquakes of 1811–1812 and was also subject to annual flooding of the Mississippi River. Arthur H. Howell visited the area, working for the U.S. Biological Survey, while conducting his field study of Arkansas birds in 1910. He documented a wide array of species, along with several egret and heron rookeries, stating that “twenty years ago a large colony of these birds (egrets) nested in the ‘Peck Cypress’ near Armorel.”

Ray Holland, investigating plume hunters operating in the area, stated, “When we came to the rookery, we saw as disgusting a spectacle as I have ever witnessed. The water was covered with the bodies of dead herons. The plumes of American egrets and the snowy herons had been ripped from their breasts and backs and the carcasses left to rot.” Aigrettes, which were used to adorn hats, were made from egret and heron plumes. These plumes were at their best during breeding season.

Beginning in 1902, the National Association of Audubon Societies worked toward the establishment of Federal Bird Reservations for their protection, the first being Pelican Island in Florida by executive order of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1903, with seventy-two such reservations created by March 1922.

The Walker Lake preserve was initially a success, with Ray Holland writing of a return visit in 1917, “The Egret, once on the verge of extinction, is coming back on this fine sanctuary.” In 1925, the Department of Agriculture produced the film Anne’s Aigrette. In the film, the character of Anne shows off her new hat with an egret plume to her husband. He then talks of the inhumanity of the plume trade and describes his visit to the Federal Bird Reserve at Walker Lake. The scene then shifts to what is possibly the only motion pictures of Walker Lake Refuge.

However, the success of the refuge was short lived. Plans to drain the sunken lands had been in place for years, with Morgan Engineering Company reporting that it was under contract to construct 300 miles of ditches in January 1912. A preliminary survey in 1916 established plans for ditches at an average of one mile apart as needed beginning at Walker Lake, extending west of Big Lake.

During a July 1926 visit, E. A. Goldman noted, “Through local drainage the roost is completely abandoned and the ground beneath deeply cracked and dry, grown up to poke weed higher than a man’s head.”

President Calvin Coolidge, with executive order No. 4490, dated August 3, 1926, revoked the refuge’s status and opened the land to homesteading by qualified men who had served during World War I.

For additional information:
Anne’s Aigrette. National Archives and Records Administration. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/7151 (accessed May 7, 2025). [see Related Video in sidebar]

“Game Reserve for Arkansas.” Arkansas Gazette, May 18, 1913, p. 25.

Goldman, E. A., Field Diary, June 12–July 2, 1926, Arkansas. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Biological Survey. https://archive.org/details/goldmanearkansa00golda/mode/1up (accessed May 7, 2025).

Holland, Ray P. Now Listen, Warden. New York: A. S. Barnes & Company, 1946. Online at https://archive.org/details/nowlistenwarden0000rayp/mode/1up (accessed May 7, 2025).

“President Wilson a Wild-Life Protector.” Illustrated Outdoor World and Recreation 49 (July 1913): 46.

“Two Islands in Walker Lake to Breed Birds.” Newport Daily Independent, May 16, 1913, p. 4. Online at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn89051130/1913-05-16/ed-1/seq-4/ (accessed May 7, 2025).

Scott Gothard
Armorel, Arkansas