Governor Huckabee's News Column: Tourism

Governor Huckabee's
News Column
December 4, 2004
Subj: Tourism

The recent opening of the Clinton Presidential Center in downtown Little Rock brought thousands of visitors to our state. It also brought millions of dollars in free publicity as members of the media converged on Little Rock from around the world. I was pleased that our trademark Arkansas hospitality was on full display during that historic week. Many of the visitors commented on how patient people were when asked for directions and how genuinely pleased Arkansans seemed to be to have them here. The media coverage, which ranged from a large travel feature in The New York Times to having ABC's "World News Tonight" air from Little Rock, was overwhelmingly positive. My hope is that those who were here will choose to return, bring friends and relatives and experience all Arkansas has to offer. I also hope those who saw the media coverage will be enticed to make their first visit to Arkansas.

It's amazing how much has been added in our state during the past five years. The $165 million Clinton Presidential Center will serve as a drawing card that will attract visitors to Arkansas. Then, those visitors will learn of the exciting things happening in all parts of the state. You've heard me speak of Amendment 75 before. This amendment to the Arkansas Constitution was approved by voters in 1996 and has helped us make Arkansas a premier destination. It has allowed the state Department of Parks and Tourism and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to invest millions of dollars in capital improvements each year. One of the latest projects to be announced is a welcome center at Bull Shoals/White River State Park near the town of Bull Shoals in Marion County. The center will have 15,700 square feet of floor space that will include a museum, aquariums, archives and scenic overlooks of Bull Shoals Lake, the massive concrete dam and the famous White River below. The facility will open in the spring of 2006 and be named the Jim Gaston Visitor and Education Center in honor of the man who owns one of the best-known trout fishing resorts in the world. This is just the most recent example of what we've been able to do with the funds produced by Amendment 75. At the time the amendment was approved, our state facilities frankly were in bad shape. Roofs needed repairs, fishing piers needed replacing, sidewalks were cracked, the rooms in our lodges were worn out and more. The people of Arkansas understood the needs, stood up and solved the problem.

Let me give you some other examples of how we're using Amendment 75 to make Arkansas a major tourist destination. The new Forrest Wood Crowley's Ridge Nature Center near Jonesboro has been attracting large numbers of visitors since it opened Aug. 25. This is the second of four planned educational centers under the direction of the Game and Fish Commission. It was named for the father of the modern bass boat, Forrest Wood of Flippin. I was deeply honored to have the first of these four nature centers named for me at Pine Bluff and am pleased to report that the Pine Bluff center also attracts a steady stream of visitors. The Jonesboro and Pine Bluff nature centers are wonderful places to take kids for hands-on outdoor experiences. We'll soon be opening the third nature center at Fort Smith with a fourth center to follow in central Arkansas. Down in southwest Arkansas, meanwhile, the Parks and Tourism Department dedicated the $2.7 million visitor education center at Cossatot River State Park and Natural Area near Wickes on Oct. 21. The Cossatot River begins in the Ouachita National Forest just southeast of Mena and moves south through a sparsely populated area of our state before entering Gillham Lake. It's the home of the Ouachita Mountain shiner and the leopard darter, which are found nowhere on earth except in the cool, swift streams of the Ouachita Mountains. The Cossatot is among the most challenging streams in North America for canoeists and kayakers. The new visitor education center is just south of U.S. 278 on a forested ridge overlooking the Cossatot.

In the Ozark Mountains of north Arkansas, tourists from across the country have come to the Game and Fish Commission's Ponca Education Center to view our state's elk herd, which was reintroduced in the early 1980s. The many people coming to see the elk have spurred economic growth in Newton County. The Buffalo River Elk Festival in Jasper each June attracts thousands of people. There were 7,400 applicants this year for elk hunting permits. If you travel a great deal, you've probably also noticed that we're improving the Arkansas Welcome Centers along the major roads into our state. We're getting ready for the new wave of visitors we expect in Arkansas.