Mike Huckabee's Arkansas Nature Centers

One of my favorite governors, Mike Huckabee, has four beautiful nature centers in Arkansas. The first of four free nature centers built by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission with revenue from Amendment 75, a one-eighth of one percent statewide sales tax passed in 1996.

The Governor Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center was designed as if it were a waterfowl hunting lodge set among Pine Bluff Regional Park's Delta bottomland, Lake Langhofer and Black Dog Bayou. The Delta and its rivers are the star attractions, and exhibits vividly describe how meandering waterways have changed this land and why swamps are incredibly valuable ecosystems.

A model of the Arkansas River reveals how oxbow lakes form. A simulated crop duster flight buzzes fertile fields.

A short film follows Hernando De Soto’s early trek through forbidding land.

Hides and bones are part of a hands-on laboratory. Those are just a few examples of what’s available.

The nature trails are open year round every day from dawn to dusk. No gates for the nature trails, and access is FREE!

This center offers programs like fish feeding, nature quilting classes, alligator feeding, plant swaps, plant shows and contests, and boating. It's loaded with teacher's resources and plenty of interesting activities for kids.

The nature center offers more than two miles of trails through the forest, making them well worth the chance to see geese, ducks, snakes, rabbits or even deer quietly grazing. Keep your eyes and ears open for signs of wildlife and don’t forget your binoculars and camera!

As one who lived in Blytheville, Arkansas for a few years and spent time rowing a boat in the alligator-ridden swamps, I can tell you there's plenty of nature in Arkansas! We can thank Governor Huckabee for making it available to all of us.

Thanks, Governor Huckabee!
2009 April Lorier

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:20