All trails at Lake Catherine State Park and Lake Ouachita State Park remain open, the director of Arkansas State Parks said Thursday, but are being monitored.
The trails at the two parks are not scheduled to be closed, Director Grady Spann said, adding, "we're evaluating those trails" to "see if they need to be closed."
On Wednesday, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson directed that Arkansas State Parks implement "day use" operations only, effective 8 a.m. today, a decision he said he made in consultation with Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism Secretary Stacy Hurst.
"Arkansas State Parks will remain operational," Hutchinson said in a statement released Wednesday evening. "Arkansas is known for our outdoor recreation, and we want to allow Arkansans to safely enjoy what our state has to offer. These new safety measures will reduce the risk of overcrowding at our parks and discourage visitors from out-of-state until the threat of COVID-19 has passed."
"This Friday, we will move to 'day use' only across our state parks system, eliminating all overnight stay opportunities," Hurst said. "This is consistent with 28 other states, and we believe it will further reduce the number of out-of-state visitors. We are staying on top of the data and best practices and will adjust if further limitations are needed."
Under the new "day use" directive, Arkansas State Parks will close overnight facilities, such as cabins and campgrounds.
The state also announced that, "due to the inability to offer adequate space for social distancing," the following areas and trails will be closed:
• Cedar Falls Trail and Cedar Falls Overlook at Petit Jean State Park.
• The day-use area on Highway 300 and the East Summit trailhead parking areas at Pinnacle Mountain State Park, including access to the West Summit, East Summit, Kingfisher and Base Trails, the Little Maumelle River Boat Ramp and the Picnic Area.
• Fossil Flats Mountain Bike Trail and the Woody Plants Trail at Devil's Den State Park.
To help prevent overcrowding at trails, Spann said Thursday that park rangers will enforce the rule that vehicles may only be parked in designated parking spots.
"If people are parking in not-designated parking areas, they may get a citation," he said.
In addition to keeping the trails safer, this also keeps the public safer from traffic accidents, Spann said, noting, "it's not safe for families to walk on highways."
"If you show up at a parking lot and it's full, number one, we're not going to let you park on the highway," he said.
If any of the local trails are closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Spann said ignoring the closure and hiking the trails anyway would be grounds for a citation. For example, anyone who attempted to hike Cedar Falls Trail at Petit Jean State Park would risk a citation.
"We will enforce that if we have to," he said.
"We're just asking people to be incredibly responsible," Spann said, noting it protects both visitors and the staff at the parks.
"All overnight facilities, effective (today), are closed," Spann said. Despite the government advising people to stay at their homes for nonessential travel, Spann said the parks were still getting a lot of visitors making reservations.
Spann said a large number of these visitors have been from out of state.
The parks will be day use only until it is safe for overnight visitors to return. Spann said he didn't have an estimate for when that will be. "This is such a fluid situation. We are constantly evaluating," he said.
Local on 04/03/2020