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Who We Are
Cherokee Prairie Natural Area
When the English naturalist Thomas Nuttall journeyed across Arkansas in 1819, he saw a "vast and trackless wilderness." There were extensive tallgrass prairies and pine woodlands at that time - landscapes teeming with wildlife. Carolina parakeets, greater prairie chickens, and red wolves, species no longer found in Arkansas, thrived here.
Nearly two centuries later, much of what Nuttall observed has been lost, with prairies converted into agricultural fields, old-growth forests cut-over and replaced with pine plantations, and free-flowing rivers dammed and channelized. Following destruction of native habitat, many plant and animal species declined in number or dissappeared entirely.
This widespread loss of habitat and species did not go unnoticed. By the 1960s, interest in conserving what remained of Arkansas's natural diversity was building. Perhaps no other agency in Arkansas state government owes its existence more to that movement than the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC). Created in 1973 by Governor Dale Bumpers as the Arkansas Environmental Preservation Commission, and renamed in 1975 when it became an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, the ANHC is charged with the responsibilities of:
- establishing and protecting a System of Natural Areas,
- collecting and maintaining information on the rare plant, animal, and high quality natural communities of Arkansas
- providing data/information regarding the natural diversity of Arkansas
To fulfill these responsibilities, the ANHC employs a professional staff dedicated to the conservation of Arkansas's natural diversity. See staff sections for more details regarding ANHC functional areas.
The Commission is made up of fifteen members. Nine appointed by the Governor for staggered terms of nine years each. In addition, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate appoints three members and the Speaker of the House of Representatives appoints three members. The Commission provides general direction to ANHC professional staff, acts on staff proposals for acquiring and dedicating natural areas, establishes rules and regulations, and adopts and amends management plans for individual natural areas. As the number of areas within the System of Natural Areas has grown, so too has the complexity of the Commission's responsibility for preserving them.
