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 la ...

, 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 The Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage, and Tourism (ADPHT) is an executive department of the government of the U.S. state of Arkansas. It is responsible for promoting, protecting, interpreting, and managing the state's natural and cultural ...

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 Ozark Plate ...

, 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.

Stephen Mather Stephen Tyng Mather (July 4, 1867 – January 22, 1930) was an American industrialist and conservationist who was the first director of the National Park Service. As president and owner of Thorkildsen-Mather Borax Company he became a million ...

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 .

References

{{Arkansas, expanded Arkansas state parks

State parks 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 ...

See also

References