Cache River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was established in 1986 to protect significant wetland habitats and provide feeding and resting areas for migrating waterfowl.

As one of the few remaining areas in the Lower Mississippi River Valley not drastically altered by channelization and drainage, the Cache River basin contains a variety of wetland communities including some of the most intact and least disturbed bottomland hardwood forests in the Mississippi Valley region. These unique and valuable wetlands have been protected by the RAMSAR Convention as Wetlands of International Importance.

At present the refuge currently encompasses over 56,000 acres located in numerous non-contiguous tracts in Jackson, Woodruff, Monroe and Prairie counties in east central Arkansas. The boundary of this refuge changes frequently as land acquisition continues along the Cache River, White River and Bayou Deview.

Refuge is located in the 10-year flood plain of the Cache River from its confluence with the White River near Clarendon, AR to Grubbs, AR, an air-mile distance of approximately 70 miles.

Large concentrations of wintering waterfowl during the winter.

Recognized as a Wetland of International Importance by the RAMSAR Convention and the most important wintering area for mallards by the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.

Habitat includes 33,000 acres of bottomland forest and associated sloughs and oxbow lakes, 4,300 acres of croplands and 7,500 acres of reforested areas.