Arkansas Public Lands
9.4% of Arkansas is federal land: 3,174,549 of its 33,599,360 acres (2024 data). The largest federal land manager in Arkansas is the U.S. Forest Service, with 2,593,690 acres, 7.7% of the state. This guide covers 49 state parks, 7 National Park Service units, 2 national forests, 12 wilderness areas, and 11 national wildlife refuges.
Explore Arkansas public lands by type
- Arkansas state parks 49 parks, 36 with camping, 17 with swimming
- Arkansas national parks 7 National Park Service units, 1 with developed campgrounds
- Arkansas national forests Ouachita National Forest, Ozark-St. Francis National Forest
- Arkansas wilderness areas 12 areas
- Arkansas national wildlife refuges 11 national wildlife refuges
Arkansas public land map
- National forests
- National parks, recreation areas and monuments (NPS)
- National wildlife refuges (FWS)
- State parks
- Wilderness areas (dashed)
Land managed by (switch layers on or off)
Land ownership: USGS PAD-US 4.1, dissolved by manager and simplified (parcels under about 2 square km not shown). Unit boundaries simplified. Not for navigation or legal boundaries.
List of all 81 places on this map
State parks (49)
- Buffalo River State Park (Arkansas)
- Bull Shoals-White River State Park
- Cane Creek State Park
- Conway Cemetery State Park
- Cossatot River State Park-Natural Area
- Crater of Diamonds State Park
- Crowley's Ridge State Park
- Daisy State Park
- Davidsonville Historic State Park
- DeGray Lake Resort State Park
- Delta Heritage Trail State Park
- Devil's Den State Park
- Hampson Archeological Museum State Park
- Herman Davis State Park
- Historic Washington State Park
- Hobbs State Park – Conservation Area
- Jacksonport State Park
- Jenkins' Ferry Battleground State Park
- Lake Catherine State Park
- Lake Charles State Park
- Lake Chicot State Park
- Lake Dardanelle State Park
- Lake Fort Smith State Park
- Lake Frierson State Park
- Lake Ouachita State Park
- Lake Poinsett State Park
- Logoly State Park
- Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park
- Louisiana Purchase State Park
- Lower White River Museum State Park
- Mammoth Spring State Park
- Marks' Mills Battleground State Park
- Millwood State Park
- Moro Bay State Park
- Mount Magazine State Park
- Mount Nebo State Park
- Mt. Nebo State Park Cabins Historic District
- Parkin Archeological State Park
- Petit Jean State Park
- Pinnacle Mountain State Park
- Plum Bayou Mounds Archeological State Park
- Poison Springs Battleground State Park
- Powhatan Historic State Park
- Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park
- Queen Wilhelmina State Park
- Village Creek State Park (Arkansas)
- White Oak Lake State Park
- Withrow Springs State Park
- Woolly Hollow State Park
National parks, recreation areas and monuments (NPS) (7)
National forests (2)
Wilderness areas (12)
National wildlife refuges (FWS) (11)
- Bald Knob National Wildlife Refuge
- Big Lake National Wildlife Refuge
- Cache River National Wildlife Refuge
- Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge
- Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge
- Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge
- Logan Cave National Wildlife Refuge
- Overflow National Wildlife Refuge
- Pond Creek National Wildlife Refuge
- Upper Ouachita National Wildlife Refuge
- Wapanocca National Wildlife Refuge
Who manages Arkansas's land
| Agency | Acres | Share of Arkansas |
|---|---|---|
| Bureau of Land Management | 2,732 | 0% |
| U.S. Forest Service | 2,593,690 | 7.7% |
| U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 392,286 | 1.2% |
| National Park Service | 100,723 | 0.3% |
| Department of Defense | 85,118 | 0.3% |
| All federal land | 3,174,549 | 9.4% |
Source: Congressional Research Service, Federal Land Ownership: Overview and Data (R42346), 2024 data, checked 2026-09-30.
Camping on Arkansas public land
National Park Service land has its own camping rules, set by each park unit: see Buffalo National River for campgrounds, fees, and backcountry permits.
36 of Arkansas's state parks have developed campgrounds on record; compare them in the Arkansas state parks table.
Common questions
- 9.4% of Arkansas is federal land: 3,174,549 of its 33,599,360 acres (2024 data).
- 2,732 acres, less than 0.1% of the state (2024 data).
- The largest federal land manager in Arkansas is the U.S. Forest Service, with 2,593,690 acres, 7.7% of the state.
- This guide lists 49 Arkansas state parks and recreation areas, 36 of them with camping on record.
- congress.gov (accessed 2026-09-30)
- blm.gov (accessed 2026-09-30)
The sentences on this page are generated by software from the sourced records above, not written by hand. How this content is made.