Protected Areas

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Wood slat sign painted red with yellow lettering on grass
Arkansas System of Natural Areas
The Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission’s (ANHC) System of Natural Areas contains some of the best examples...
Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge
The Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) consists of 14,800 acres of forest wetlands and croplands lying a...
"Big lake district hunters' paradise" newspaper clipping
Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge
Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge is one of the oldest inland national wildlife refuges. This 11,038-acre area...
Black Fork Mountain Wilderness
The Black Fork Mountain Wilderness is located in the Ouachita National Forest in western Arkansas and eastern ...
Interior cave stalagmites on natural shelves above mineral deposit piles covered in icicle like drips
Blanchard Springs Caverns
Blanchard Springs Caverns (BSC) is a magnificent limestone cave system starting more than 200 feet underground...
White man in kayak holding paddle across chest with river rapids, mountain ridge
Buffalo National River
aka: Buffalo River
The Buffalo National River, which runs through Newton, Searcy, Mari...
Bare trees in flooded wetlands with green algae floating on the water
Cache River National Wildlife Refuge
The 62,000-acre Cache River National Wildlife Refuge is the most important wintering area for ducks and the la...
Caney Creek Wilderness
The Caney Creek Wilderness is a protected recreational area created in 1975 in the Ouachita National Forest. O...
Single-story building with green roof and parking lot
Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge
aka: White River National Wildlife Refuge
The Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge, located in ...
Aerial view of lake with locks and dam
Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge
Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge encompasses approximately 65,000 acres at the confluence of the Ouachita a...
Two-story building with green roof and state and American flags
Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area
Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area in northwest Arkansas offers outdoor recreational activities such as hiking...
Old white man with glasses in winter clothing holding a swan with white man and van with trailer behind him on snowy road
Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge
Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge (Holla Bend NWR), located six miles south of Dardanelle (Yell County), is ...
White man in green shirt and blue jeans leaning against a tall tree in forest
Lost 40
The Lost 40 is a forty-acre tract of mature forest along Wolf Branch (a tributary of Moro Creek) in southeaste...
Lake with bridge and various brick buildings in background along wooded shoreline
Mammoth Spring
Mammoth Spring is the largest spring in the state of Arkansas, the second largest in the Ozark Mountains regio...
Large flock of geese on the in a field and some in flight over it
Mississippi Flyway
The Mississippi Flyway is one of four loosely defined routes used by some species of migratory birds as they t...
Mountain viewed from forest road with opposite split-rail fences
Ouachita National Forest
The Ouachita National Forest, originally called the Arkansas National Forest, was created through an executive...
Overflow National Wildlife Refuge
Overflow National Wildlife Refuge was established on November 6, 1980, to protect one of the remaining bottoml...
River with natural spill way and green foliage
Ozark-St. Francis National Forests
The Ozark-St. Francis National Forests are replete with distinct topographical, geological, and biological fea...
Pond Creek National Wildlife Refuge
Pond Creek National Wildlife Refuge, the 501st refuge in the National Wildlife Refuge System, protects and pre...
White man teaching a group of white men women and children at outdoor table with animal bones on it
South Fork Nature Center
South Fork Nature Center (SFNC), which opened in 2010, is the Gates Rogers Foundation’s premier conservancy ...
Upper Buffalo River Wilderness Area
As one of the twelve wilderness areas partially or entirely located in the state, the Upper Buffalo Wilderness...
Walker Lake Refuge
Walker Lake Refuge, Arkansas’s first national game preserve, was created on April 21, 1913, by President Woo...
Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge
The Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge in Crittenden County covers 5,532 acres, at the center of which is the ...
two men dressed for the outdoors holding shotguns and dead ducks in front of a row of old cars parked in a field
Wildlife Management Areas
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) oversees the state’s wildlife management areas (WMAs), which ar...