BURIED TREASURE: STUDY FINDS ARCHEOLOGICAL PARKS COULD BRING MONEY, TOURISTS TO NORTHEAST ARKANSAS

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A study conducted by the Arkansas Archeological Survey and the University of Arkansas concludes that the development of archeological parks in Northeast Arkansas could increase tourism by the hundreds of thousands and bring millions more dollars into the state each year.

As director of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, Tom Green knows the value of Arkansas’ archeological heritage. But he also believes there’s a way to protect that heritage while using it to benefit the state. On Friday, April 21, Green made a presentation on this matter at the Society for American Archeology conference in New Orleans.

"My research focuses on how to manage archeological parks to preserve archeological sites, not just for scholarly purposes but for public education as well," Green said. "Of course, one of the most persuasive arguments for preservation is that a site also provides economic gains for the region."

In an effort to assess the economic impact of such parks, Green teamed up with Terre McLendon, a researcher at the UALR Institute for Economic Advancement. The two developed a survey of state and national parks, which they hoped would serve as a guide for the development of a national archeological park in Northeast Arkansas.

The researchers sent their survey to more than 100 parks in the United States. The completed surveys offered a detailed picture of archeological parks across the nation and provided information on numerous variables, including staff size, programs and exhibits, facilities, lodging, budget, the number of visitors each month, and the number of privately-owned businesses nearby.

Conducting a statistical analysis of this information, McLendon found that parks with larger budgets attracted more visitors each month. "It’s a direct correlation: the larger the budget, the more tourists you draw. No surprise there," explained Green.

But Green and McLendon were surprised when they applied the numbers to Arkansas. Currently, archeological state parks like Toltec Mounds near Little Rock and the Parkin site in Cross County draw 30,000 to 50,000 visitors each year, but these are mostly school children, Green said. Vacationers and families tend to stop only at national parks because those guarantee facilities and activities that cater to tourists.

As a result, Green considers it critical that Northeast Arkansas acquire an outlet of the National Park Service to continue the preservation of state history and to further promote the state as a tourist destination. To that end, Green and McLendon used their survey results as a model to calculate the economic impact if such a park was established in Mississippi County near Blytheville.

Using information from the survey, McLendon and Green estimated that a national archeological park with a budget of $885,000 could draw up to 100,000 tourists each year. Further, the existence of such a park and the increase of tourism it generated would result in $3.5 million in revenue for Mississippi County and create as many as 100 new jobs in the area.

"The financial gain is moderate. What’s really significant are the cultural benefits that a national park would provide," Green said. "It opens opportunities for research and education, and it improves the community. Businesses that are considering moving into Arkansas can look at this area and see it has cultural attractions."

Green considers Mississippi County a natural location for a national park because the federal government already owns land there — land that coincidentally covers one of the most expansive archeological sites in the state. Located on the old Eaker Air Force Base near Blytheville, the Eaker archeological site contains more than 85 acres of prehistoric remains, dating back to A.D. 700.

In addition, the site is centrally located. The Parkin Archeological state park in Cross County, the Hemingway-Pfeiffer House in Piggott, and Crawley’s Ridge state park near Walcott all sit adjacent to the Eaker site in Northeast Arkansas. And the Mississippi Valley holds numerous more attractions, including archeological parks in Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Finally, the main traffic artery of the Mississippi Valley, I-55, runs through Blytheville on the way to Memphis and New Orleans, allowing tourists from as far away as Minneapolis and Chicago to travel directly to the park.

"Ideally, we’d like to develop the Eaker site into a center that directs people to other state parks and attractions in the area," Green said. "That type of packaged marketing of a region ensures that tourists spend lots of time in the area and also spend their money. That tactic has shown great success in the Southwest U.S., and we think it could work here."

But founding a national archeological park requires further development of the Eaker site. Green envisions a visitors’ center to welcome tourists and provide educational and interpretive materials. In addition, he expects the park to contain a center for the curation and display of objects recovered from the area over the past 50 years and a research station to direct the further preservation and excavation of the site.

Due to financial and political support from voters in Mississippi County, the Archeological Survey has already acquired the research station. But further development will require federal legislation to establish the park and additional funding in excess of $700,000 — thus the urgency to show that national archeological parks provide economic benefits.

"The survey shows that this park will definitely pay for itself," Green said. "It’s already brought rewards to the community. The presence of the research station enabled the local school district to win a grant of $150,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to incorporate archeology into the fifth and sixth grade curricula."

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