The Ouachita and Ozark – St. Francis National Forests in Arkansas are home to the Black Fork Mountain, Caney Creek, Dry Creek, Flatside, Poteau Mountain, East Fork, Hurricane Creek, Leatherwood, Richland Creek, and Upper Buffalo Wilderness Areas. Together, these areas total 121,363 acres.
SAWS first set foot in the Natural State in 2012, when we sent a crew to assist in the response to tornado damage in the Flatside Wilderness on the Ouachita National Forest, clearing fallen trees to reopen the trail. We officially added Arkansas with the Ouachita and Ozark – St. Francis National Forests to our bootprint in 2019, when we co-hosted the Great Rivers Wilderness Skills Institute in Russellville, AR. In 2020, one of our wilderness specialists worked to develop wilderness character baseline reports for the East Fork, Hurricane Creek, Leatherwood, Richland Creek, and Upper Buffalo Wilderness Areas.