In the news
December 15-21, 2025
Blanchard Springs Caverns set to become state park
By Tess Vrbin
North Arkansas’ Blanchard Springs Caverns is in the process of becoming Arkansas’ 53rd state park, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced Monday.
Sanders and Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Shea Lewis signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Forest Service to begin redesignating Arkansas’ second-largest cave system, which sits in the Ozark-St. Francis National Forest in Stone County.
The cave system includes eight and a half miles of explorable limestone caverns and access to a creek that flows into the White River. It has been open to the public since 1973, and Sanders said at Monday’s news conference that more than 70,000 people visit the caves per year.
Sanders said Blanchard Springs Caverns “will elevate the best state parks in America” and “can rival Carlsbad Caverns or Mammoth Cave,” national parks in New Mexico and Kentucky, respectively.
In 1996, Arkansas voters approved a constitutional amendment that increased the state sales tax by one-eighth of one cent to fund land conservation. Sanders noted that this occurred during the administration of her father, former Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Reinvesting this revenue in parks like Blanchard Springs Caverns bolsters Arkansas’ multibillion-dollar tourism industry, Sanders said.
Her husband, First Gentleman Bryan Sanders, chairs the Natural State Initiative, which the governor launched shortly after taking office in 2023 in an effort to expand Arkansas’ outdoor economy.
“Arkansas’ natural beauty is one of our greatest competitive advantages, and places like Blanchard Springs shows why,” Bryan Sanders said in a Monday news release from the governor’s office. “Designating it as a state park will not only protect this incredible place but also open the door to more adventure, exploration, and the kind of outdoor experiences that support families and local communities.”
The redesignation of Blanchard Springs Caverns “is what the Natural State Initiative looks like in action” and hopefully “will make Arkansas a place people want to return to again and again,” Lewis said at the news conference.
Deputy Regional Forester Mary Moore of the U.S. Forest Service praised the agency’s “positive, collaborative” relationship with the state’s parks department.
“The partnership we have is reliable and trustworthy, and our agencies share common goals for the mutual benefit of residents and visitors alike,” Moore said.
Tess Vrbin came to the Advocate from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, where she reported on low-income housing and tenants’ rights, and won awards for her coverage of 2021 flooding and tornado damage in rural Arkansas.
Arkansasadvocte.com
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Photo Cutline:
From left: Deputy Regional Forester Mary Moore of the U.S. Forest Service; Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Shea Lewis; and state Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, announce the effort to designate Blanchard Springs Caverns as a state park on Dec. 8, 2025.
Photo Credit:
(Photo by Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate)
