The ANHC has acquired an additional 1,110 acres at Longview Saline Natural Area (NA) in Ashley County, bringing the size of the natural area up to 6,020 total acres. Longview Saline NA supports habitat for two federally endangered mussels – the winged mapleleaf (Quadrula fragosa) and pink mucket (Lampsilis abrupta), and the federally threatened rabbitsfoot mussel (Quadrula cylindrica cylindrica), as well as future populations of the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker (Dryobates borealis).
Longview Saline NA was added to the System of Natural Areas in 2011. The natural area represents a landscape-scale project for the ANHC and protects and maintains a portion of the biologically diverse Saline River ecosystem and the mosaic of rare natural communities along its terraces in Arkansas’s Coastal Plain. A rich diversity of habitats can be found on the natural area, beginning in the bottomlands of the Saline River itself, moving up the terraces of old river channels and floodplains to Carolina ash sloughs, delta post oak flatwoods and pine flatwoods, to the “nebkhas” or prairie mounds of sediment stabilized by vegetation, to the saline barrens where the soil is so high in sodium and magnesium salts that very little plant life can thrive.
Pictured above -- Wetlands at Longview Saline Natural Area, photo by Brent Baker.
Ranked as a national priority with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the project received $901,791 from the USFWS’s Federal Recovery Land Acquisition (RLA) grant. In addition, funds provided by the ANHC’s share of the Department of Arkansas Heritage’s Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council grant were used for the purchase.
A state highway, county road, and the Saline River frontage provide quality public access for hunting, fishing, hiking, and birding. The Saline River is the longest remaining freeflowing stream in the state. For more details about Longview Saline NA, including maps, driving directions, and photos, visit our website.
Longview Saline NA was added to the System of Natural Areas in 2011. The natural area represents a landscape-scale project for the ANHC and protects and maintains a portion of the biologically diverse Saline River ecosystem and the mosaic of rare natural communities along its terraces in Arkansas’s Coastal Plain. A rich diversity of habitats can be found on the natural area, beginning in the bottomlands of the Saline River itself, moving up the terraces of old river channels and floodplains to Carolina ash sloughs, delta post oak flatwoods and pine flatwoods, to the “nebkhas” or prairie mounds of sediment stabilized by vegetation, to the saline barrens where the soil is so high in sodium and magnesium salts that very little plant life can thrive.
Pictured above -- Wetlands at Longview Saline Natural Area, photo by Brent Baker.
Ranked as a national priority with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the project received $901,791 from the USFWS’s Federal Recovery Land Acquisition (RLA) grant. In addition, funds provided by the ANHC’s share of the Department of Arkansas Heritage’s Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council grant were used for the purchase.
A state highway, county road, and the Saline River frontage provide quality public access for hunting, fishing, hiking, and birding. The Saline River is the longest remaining freeflowing stream in the state. For more details about Longview Saline NA, including maps, driving directions, and photos, visit our website.