river of northeastern and eastern Louisiana, U.S. It rises in East Carroll parish, as Tensas Bayou, and generally flows southwestward over a course of approximately 250 miles (400 km), joining the Ouachita River at Jonesville, as the Tensas River, in Catahoula parish to form the Black River. The Tensas basin comprises a part of the floodplain on the west side of the Mississippi River that extends from the Arkansas River to the Red River. Within the basin is the Tensas River National Wildlife Refuge, a tract comprising about 81 square miles (210 square km) of bottomland hardwood forests, which has the last remaining population of black bears (black bear) in the state.