Hill’s legislation would increase acreage of Arkansas wilderness area

U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) recently sponsored legislation that would expand Flatside Wilderness, a 9,507-acre protected area in Arkansas’ Ouachita National Forest. 

Specifically, the Flatside Wilderness Additions Act, H.R. 3971, would add an additional 2,215 U.S. Forest Service (USFS) acres to the area.

“Arkansans and visitors should enjoy the amazing landscape our great state has to offer,” Rep. Hill said on Tuesday. “In 2019, my bill, the Flatside Wilderness Enhancement Act, added over 600 acres to Flatside Wilderness, known as Bethune Woods. In 2019, I also commissioned a study of all possible qualifying additions to Flatside.”

H.R. 3971, the congressman said, would complete his work on the final expansion of Flatside Wilderness by adding more acreage of existing forest service land to the area.

In turn, this will bring “more opportunities for Arkansans and visitors to explore more of Arkansas’s natural qualities and further boost our state’s outdoor recreation economy,” said Rep. Hill.

Flatside Wilderness would receive the additional land following a report issued in May 2021 by the USFS, at the direction of Congress, which studied and evaluated the land. H.R. 3971 is based on the analysis and findings of USFS, according to Rep. Hill.

The legislation has support from local and state agencies, as well as numerous outside organizations, including Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Arkansas Parks and Tourism, Friends of the Ouachita Trail, The PEW Charitable Trusts, the Southern Environmental Law Center, and the Wilderness Society.