Arkansas has 8 designated Wild and Scenic Rivers protecting 204.5 miles across 19 segments in the Ouachita Mountains and the Boston Mountains of the Ozark Plateau, spanning 9 counties. The rivers are administered primarily by the Ozark-St. Francis and Ouachita National Forests of the US Forest Service, with the National Park Service managing 2 segments totaling 9.8 miles. Arkansas holds one of the most diverse Wild and Scenic systems in the South, including the Mulberry, Cossatot, Big Piney Creek, Buffalo, Little Missouri, Hurricane Creek, Richland Creek, and North Sylamore Creek — a collection spanning granite-bedded Ouachita rivers, limestone-bottomed Ozark streams, and rugged creek systems in some of the most remote national forest land east of the Rockies. Click any segment on the map for details.

Wild and Scenic Rivers in Arkansas at a Glance

Arkansas’s Wild and Scenic system was built primarily through Arkansas Wilderness Acts that designated rivers alongside wilderness areas in the Ozark and Ouachita National Forests across several rounds of federal legislation. The designations cover rivers from two distinctly different physiographic regions: the Ozark Plateau in the north, where limestone-bottomed rivers like Big Piney Creek and North Sylamore Creek carve through the Boston Mountains, and the Ouachita Mountains in the south and west, where rivers like the Cossatot, Little Missouri, and Hurricane Creek cut through sandstone, novaculite, and quartzite ridges. The Mulberry River, at 56 miles the longest designated river in the state, flows east through the Magazine Mountain corridor of the Ozark National Forest and is considered one of the premier intermediate whitewater and float-fishing rivers in the central United States. It is worth noting that the famous Buffalo River nearby — America’s first designated National River (1972) — carries a separate designation under a different statute and is not part of the Wild and Scenic system; the Buffalo Wild and Scenic River segments in this dataset represent a different, smaller designated reach on the headwaters under USFS management.

Classification Breakdown

Scenic segments dominate Arkansas’s designation by a wide margin, covering nearly 70 percent of all designated miles. This reflects the character of Ozark and Ouachita national forest rivers: largely undeveloped and forested corridors with road crossings at intervals, but rarely fully roadless. The four Wild segments are concentrated on the most remote headwaters reaches of rivers like the Little Missouri and Richland Creek where road access simply does not exist. The two Recreational segments are on the Mulberry, where Forest Service roads run adjacent to the river through the lower canyon.

Managing Agencies

The US Forest Service administers the overwhelming majority of Arkansas’s Wild and Scenic mileage through the Ozark-St. Francis National Forests (covering the northern Ozark rivers) and the Ouachita National Forest (covering the southern rivers). The 2 NPS-administered segments account for 9.8 miles and relate to the Buffalo Wild and Scenic River headwaters reach, managed in coordination with the Buffalo National River unit downstream.

Longest Designated Rivers in Arkansas

The Mulberry is the standout paddle river in the Arkansas system: 56 miles of Scenic and Recreational-classified water through the Ozark National Forest between Spy Rock and Highway 23, offering outstanding Class II–III whitewater in late winter and spring and excellent smallmouth bass fishing from late spring through fall. The Cossatot in Polk County is the technical counterpart — an Ouachita Mountain granite-bedded river that produces Class III–V+ whitewater in its designated Scenic gorge sections at appropriate flows, considered one of the most challenging Class IV–V runs in the Midsouth. Big Piney Creek, flowing as a single 45-mile Scenic segment through the Ozark National Forest in Johnson County, offers one of the finest continuous float-fishing experiences in the state, with exceptional clarity and a large population of smallmouth bass in its deeper pools.

Where to Run, Hike, or Fish Arkansas’s Wild and Scenic Rivers

For multi-day whitewater

The Mulberry (Turner Bend to Woolum) is the classic Arkansas multi-day float: two to three days of continuous Class II–III water with abundant gravel bar camping within the Ozark National Forest, typically run from January through May before summer flows drop too low. The Cossatot (Hwy 246 to River Road) is the expert alternative: a compact but serious Class IV–V run through a granite gorge in the Ouachita Mountains that is runnable only at moderate to high flows and demands skilled boat control throughout. Hurricane Creek, a tributary system northwest of Jasper in the Buffalo River watershed, offers a shorter Wild-classified gorge run at technical levels that appeals to creek boaters looking for the Ozarks’ most committed paddle.

For hiking and access

The Richland Creek Wilderness Trail follows the Richland Creek Wild and Scenic River corridor through one of the most botanically diverse wilderness areas in the Ozark National Forest, connecting several creek crossings and waterfalls including the impressive Twin Falls of Richland Creek. North Sylamore Creek runs through the Blanchard Springs area of the Ozark National Forest near Mountain View, where the Sylamore Trail system parallels much of the designated reach through a typical Boston Mountains hardwood and shortleaf pine landscape. The Little Missouri Trail in the Ouachita National Forest follows the Little Missouri Wild and Scenic River from Albert Pike Recreation Area through the river’s Wild gorge section, passing through old-growth bottomland and past several significant waterfalls in the upper reach.

For native fish

Big Piney Creek is acknowledged by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission as one of the top smallmouth bass streams in the state, producing quality fish to 20 inches in the deeper, clearer pools of the designated Scenic reach. The Mulberry’s lower corridor also holds excellent smallmouth along with spotted bass and catfish in the slower stretches below Cass. The Cossatot and Little Missouri support populations of the Ouachita Mountain shiner and other endemic Ouachita stream fishes that have been used as indicators in water quality monitoring for the Ouachita National Forest watershed. North Sylamore Creek and portions of Richland Creek are documented habitat for the Ozark cavefish and several darter species restricted to the Springfield Plateau and Boston Mountains ecoregions of the Ozark National Forest.

Maps for Neighboring States

Arkansas borders six states: Louisiana (Saline Bayou), Mississippi (Black Creek), Missouri (Eleven Point), Tennessee (Obed), and Texas, which has the Rio Grande Wild and Scenic River. Oklahoma borders Arkansas but has no designated Wild and Scenic rivers. For the full national picture, see our US Wild and Scenic Rivers map covering all 249 rivers across 42 states and Puerto Rico.

Data Sources

River segment geometry, classification, mileage, and managing-agency attributes come from the US Forest Service Enterprise Data Warehouse, specifically the National Wild and Scenic River Segments dataset jointly maintained by the USFS, NPS, BLM, and US Fish and Wildlife Service. Source service: USFS EDW Wild Scenic River Segments. Authoritative national index: rivers.gov. State recreation and fish-management context: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas State Parks, Ozark-St. Francis National Forests, and the Ouachita National Forest.