Arkansas has an area of 137,732 square kilometres (about two–thirds that of Great Britain) but a population of only just over three million (slightly less than that of Wales).
It has 52 state parks, three national forests, five national parks, and the USA's first National River. (The Buffalo National River, which meanders through the heart of the Ozarks, is America's first federally protected stream.) According to the Readers Digest, Arkansas adopted 'the Natural State' as its official nickname in 1995, after lobbying by the state's Parks System. It had previously been known as the Land of Opportunity.
© Haydn Thompson 2021