Spring Bayou lies within the Spring Bayou Wildlife Management Area, which spans more than 12,000 acres in the low-lying, poorly drained Red River backwater system, with about 40 percent of the area covered by water that flows into Little River. The area includes Grand Lake, Grand Coulee, Coulee Noir, Lac aux Siene, Lac a Deux Boute, Lac Tete de Bouef, Lake Francois, Lake Gabriel, Petite Bay, Old River, Bayou de la Bay, Central Slough, and a portion of Bayou Cocodrie. The names of these lakes, coulees, bays, bayous, sloughs, and small rivers reflect the French origins of colonial occupation and settlement in the region. These waterbodies are relict channels of the Red River and have arcing, curvilinear forms all in the same direction. The outermost of these arcs within the wildlife management area is Old River, a distributary outlet of the Mississippi. Farther south, the Red River and a separate waterbody also called Old River join to form the Atchafalaya River and its extensive basin. About 2,000 years ago, the Red River diverted its course, made a right-angle bend to the northeast, and cut through the Pleistocene terrace near what is now Moncla. This diversion isolated a piece of highland that became the Avoyelles Prairie and created bluffs at Moncla that would eventually make crossing the Red River in bad weather easier for settlers. Nearby Marksville stands at the edge of the Avoyelles Prairie on a bluff that American Indians chose for a town and ceremonial grounds. Today the wildlife management area is abundant in wildlife and is a popular destination for sportsmen, while the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Spring Bayou Restoration Team have worked for many years to reduce aquatic overgrowth, remove invasive species, and improve navigation there.