Cossatot River State Park

From the article "Cossatot River State Park Protects Stream, Environs"
By Jim Taylor, travel writer
Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism

Cossatot River State Park/Natural Area, Arkansas's 48th state park, is jointly managed by the state Department of Parks and Tourism and state Natural Heritage Commission to preserve -- while allowing public use -- of, a scenic, pristine stream that irregularly offers skilled floaters challenging whitewater. The park is located in west-central Arkansas mostly between Ark. 246 and U.S. 278 near Wickes. For more information, phone (870) 385-2201 or visit www.ArkansasStateParks.com.

WICKES -- The Ouachita Mountain shiner and the leopard darter have been found nowhere on earth except in streams of the Ouachita Mountains. The darter, in fact, has been found in only three of those. Like many minnow-like species, they are particularly susceptible to changes in their habitat and both require the kind of clean, moving water found in the upper stretch of Arkansas's Cossatot River.

While they might not be extinct without it, the outlook for the rare fishes -- as well as the rare Caddo Mountain salamander and a number of plants endemic to the Ouachitas -- has been enhanced by the creation of the Cossatot River State Park/Natural Area, which includes the stream and a corridor of riparian forest up to a mile wide.

Preserved within the park are the Cossatot Falls, where the river snakes over and between upturned Ouachitas strata to create the most challenging stretch of whitewater in Arkansas. That area's rocks, polished smooth by the river, are among the state's most scenic geological creations.

Recognizing the pristine qualities of the Cossatot, the state Natural Heritage Commission (then named the Environmental Preservation Commission) began in 1974 an effort to acquire from the Weyerhauser Corporation (a wood products company) the river's corridor below its beginning in the Ouachita National Forest southeast of Mena. The company, however, was concerned about the ability of the commission's limited staff to manage such an intensively used and large recreation area.

After the state Parks and Tourism Department joined the effort, an agreement was approved in 1988 under which a private preservation organization, the Nature Conservancy, purchased more than 4,000 acres along the river for $2.9 million and held it in trust until state funding became available for the acquisition. Since the property had been appraised for $3.7 million, the reduced sale price, in effect, represented an $800,000 contribution to the state by Weyerhauser.

The subsequent state funding came from the Natural and Cultural Resources Council, which was created in 1987 to oversee the spending of revenues from the state's real estate transfer tax.

Additional donations, leases and purchases have increased the park's size to about 5,484 acres, and it now extends from just above the Ark. 246 bridge east of Vandervoort to about 1.5 miles below the U.S. 278 bridge east of Wickes.

[click here to read more about the Cossatot River State Park...]

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