As part of a larger announcement about outdoor recreation in Arkansas, the acquisition of the newest ANHC natural area, Blue Mountain, was recently announced by Governor Asa Hutchinson and the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. Blue Mountain is the last remaining mountain in the Maumelle Pinnacles chain, which includes Arkansas’s beloved Pinnacle Mountain and Rattlesnake Ridge. The 459-acre property was acquired from PotlatchDeltic using $4 million in state and federal funds and $1 million contributed by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). TNC has pledged additional funding for recreational amenities and long-term management.
Blue Mountain Natural Area is the westernmost peak of the three mountains that make up the Maumelle Pinnacles Chain. The area was recognized by early naturalists, including the botanist Thomas Nuttall, who is credited with the popularity of the name “pinnacles” and sketched the chain in his “A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory during the Year 1819”. The natural area conserves the globally rare grassland habitat, Ouachita Sandstone Outcrop Barrens, as well as riparian communities along small streams in the valley to the south, rock outcrops on the ridge top, and bluffs in a matrix of dry oak and oak-pine woodlands.
The addition of Blue Mountain to the System of Natural Areas completes a 12,000-acre conservation and recreation corridor, which includes properties owned or managed by Pulaski County, Arkansas State Parks, Central Arkansas Water, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, The Nature Conservancy, and the ANHC. The ANHC and TNC jointly own Blue Mountain NA. The ANHC retains fee title and full public recreational rights; TNC retains a timber deed and is responsible for long-term management of the property and developing recreational amenities.
Like Rattlesnake Ridge NA, which is also co-owned by the ANHC and TNC, Blue Mountain will feature a nature-based style of recreation that balances conserving important and rare landscapes with giving people additional opportunities to explore the outdoors in low-impact, immersive ways. Recreational amenities including a parking area, trailhead, and several miles of trails are expected to be completed by Fall 2022. Stay tuned for more information!
Photo above -- View of Blue Mountain as seen from Rattlesnake Ridge Natural Area (NA). Photo by Joshua Kwekel, courtesy of TNC. Blue Mountain NA and Rattlesnake Ridge NA conserve the globally rare grassland habitat, Ouachita Sandstone Outcrop Barrens, seen here in the foreground of the photo.
Blue Mountain Natural Area is the westernmost peak of the three mountains that make up the Maumelle Pinnacles Chain. The area was recognized by early naturalists, including the botanist Thomas Nuttall, who is credited with the popularity of the name “pinnacles” and sketched the chain in his “A Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory during the Year 1819”. The natural area conserves the globally rare grassland habitat, Ouachita Sandstone Outcrop Barrens, as well as riparian communities along small streams in the valley to the south, rock outcrops on the ridge top, and bluffs in a matrix of dry oak and oak-pine woodlands.
The addition of Blue Mountain to the System of Natural Areas completes a 12,000-acre conservation and recreation corridor, which includes properties owned or managed by Pulaski County, Arkansas State Parks, Central Arkansas Water, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, The Nature Conservancy, and the ANHC. The ANHC and TNC jointly own Blue Mountain NA. The ANHC retains fee title and full public recreational rights; TNC retains a timber deed and is responsible for long-term management of the property and developing recreational amenities.
Like Rattlesnake Ridge NA, which is also co-owned by the ANHC and TNC, Blue Mountain will feature a nature-based style of recreation that balances conserving important and rare landscapes with giving people additional opportunities to explore the outdoors in low-impact, immersive ways. Recreational amenities including a parking area, trailhead, and several miles of trails are expected to be completed by Fall 2022. Stay tuned for more information!
Photo above -- View of Blue Mountain as seen from Rattlesnake Ridge Natural Area (NA). Photo by Joshua Kwekel, courtesy of TNC. Blue Mountain NA and Rattlesnake Ridge NA conserve the globally rare grassland habitat, Ouachita Sandstone Outcrop Barrens, seen here in the foreground of the photo.