There are 52
state park
State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...
s in the U.S. state of
Arkansas
Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, as of 2019.
[ ''Note: this list of all 52 parks is the default reference for current individual Arkansas state parks.''] The state parks division of the
Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism is the governing body and operator of all parks, although jurisdiction is shared with other state agencies in a few cases.
The first Arkansas state park,
Petit Jean State Park
Petit Jean State Park is a park in Conway County, Arkansas managed by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism. It is located atop Petit Jean Mountain adjacent to the Arkansas River in the area between the Ouachita Mountains and Ozarks, Ozark ...
, opened in 1923 following an unsuccessful attempt by a lumber company to donate the Seven Hollows and canyon areas to the federal government as a National Park.
deemed the parcel too small in 1921, but the
Arkansas General Assembly
The General Assembly of Arkansas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Arkansas Senate with 35 members, and the lower Arkansas House of Representatives with 100 ...
passed Act 276, allowing the
Commissioner of State Lands to accept donations of land for public use.
The list gives an overview of Arkansas state parks and a brief history of their development since the first park opened in 1923. State parks range in size from to .
See also
*
List of U.S. national parks
References
{{Arkansas, expanded
Arkansas state parks
State parks