Editing Monroe County, Arkansas (section)

==Geography==
{{See also|Geography of Arkansas|Arkansas Delta}}
The county is located in the Arkansas Delta, one of the six primary geographic regions of Arkansas. The Arkansas Delta is a subregion of the [[Mississippi Alluvial Plain]], which is a flat area consisting of rich, fertile sediment deposits from the [[Mississippi River]] between [[Louisiana]] and [[Illinois]]. Large portions of Monroe County are also within the [[Arkansas Delta#Grand Prairie|Grand Prairie]], a subdivision of the Arkansas Delta known today for rice farming and aquaculture. According to the [[U.S. Census Bureau]], the county has a total area of {{convert|621|sqmi}}, of which {{convert|607|sqmi}} is land and {{convert|14|sqmi}} (2.3%) is water.<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=http://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/counties_list_05.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=August 27, 2015|date=August 22, 2012|title=2010 Census Gazetteer Files}}</ref>

[[File:Louisiana Purchase State Park 2015 3.JPG|right|thumb|Headwater swamp at the entrance to [[Louisiana Purchase State Park]], southern Monroe County]]
Prior to settlement, Monroe County was densely forested, with bayous, sloughs, and swamps crossing the land. Seeking to take advantage of the area's fertile soils, settlers cleared the land to better suit [[row crops]].<ref name="eoc" /> Although some swampland has been preserved in the conservation areas like the Cache River NWR and White River NWR, and some former farmland has undergone reforestation, the majority (52 percent) of the county remains in cultivation.{{#tag:ref|In 2015, 101.1 thousand acres of soybeans, 46.2 thousand acres of rice, 22.9 thousand acres of sorghum, 16.0 thousand acres of wheat, and 15.3 thousand acres of corn were planted in Monroe County.<ref name=AgStats>{{cite web|title= National Agricultural Statistics Service County Level Data |url= http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Arkansas/Publications/County_Estimates/index.php |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture |access-date= August 28, 2016 |year= 2015 }}</ref> Total acreage for those two crops is 201,500. Monroe County has 607 square miles of land area, which is 388,480 acres based on 640 acres per square mile. Acreage for the total crops (201,500) divided by acreage for the county (388,480) is 51.9&nbsp;percent.|group=Note}} Another large land use in Monroe County is the Cache River NWR and White River NWR, owned by the [[United States Fish and Wildlife Service]].

The county is located approximately {{convert|73|mi|km}} east of [[Little Rock, Arkansas|Little Rock]] and {{convert|88|mi|km}} west-southwest of [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]], [[Tennessee]].{{#tag:ref|Mileages from Monroe County to Little Rock and Memphis are based on highway miles using county seat Clarendon for Monroe County.<ref>{{cite web
  |title=Google Maps (Search for Clarendon, AR)
  |url=https://www.google.com/maps/place/Clarendon,+AR+72029/@34.6945684,-91.3249927,14z/
  |access-date= August 28, 2016 }}</ref>
|group=Note}} Monroe County is surrounded by six other Delta counties: [[Woodruff County, Arkansas|Woodruff County]] to the north, [[St. Francis County, Arkansas|St. Francis County]] to the northeast, [[Lee County, Arkansas|Lee County]] and [[Phillips County, Arkansas|Phillips County]] to the east, [[Arkansas County, Arkansas|Arkansas County]] to the southwest, and [[Prairie County, Arkansas|Prairie County]] to the west.

===Hydrology===
Water is an extremely important part of Monroe County's geography, history, economy, and culture. The many rivers, streams, ditches, sloughs and bayous crossing the county have featured prominently since prehistoric times. Native American tribes settled near them and peoples such as the [[Quapaw]] constructed burial mounds at Indian Bay in extreme southern Monroe County (today preserved as [[Baytown Site]]).<ref name="eoc" >{{ Cite encyclopedia |title= Monroe County |url= http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?search=1&entryID=792 |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture |publisher= Butler Center for Arkansas Studies at the Central Arkansas Library System |date= July 7, 2016 |last= Mitchell |first= Louise |access-date= August 28, 2016 }}</ref>

Europeans who settled in the county also used the White River to navigate through the area and trade. Control of the White River lead to military action in the county during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], including a gunboat battle at Clarendon in 1864. The [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927|Flood of 1927]] damaged much of the county's settlements along the White, and inundated Clarendon when the levees protecting the city failed on April 20. Conservation efforts by leaders in the county resulted in the creation of federal and state protected areas around the Cache and White rivers, to protect wetlands that could absorb flooding, beginning in 1935. These have been expanded to the current day, as engineers understand more about the positive role of wetlands in floodplain ecology.

The White River, one of Arkansas's most important rivers, is the county's major hydrologic features. The White forms the southwestern boundary of the county with [[Arkansas County, Arkansas|Arkansas County]]. The Cache River runs on the west side of Monroe County, partially forming its border with [[Prairie County, Arkansas|Prairie County]]. Both the Cache River and Roc Roe Bayou empty into the White near Clarendon. [[Bayou De View]] runs through the north part of the county and meets the Cache north of [[Dobbs Landing, Arkansas|Dobbs Landing]].<ref name="mon" />

===National protected areas===
* [[Cache River National Wildlife Refuge]] (part)
* [[White River National Wildlife Refuge]] (part)