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Arkansas Private Wetlands and Riparian Zone Conservation (AR)

Tracked preemption from the Arkansas overlay bundle.

Overview

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Effective
1995-01-01
Sunset
—
Authority
state
Scope
state:AR
Other Arkansas preemptions
Arkansas Tax Increment Finance — Redevelopment District AuthorityArkansas Brownfield Voluntary Cleanup Program — DEQ Oversight & Liability LimitsArkansas Critical Groundwater Areas — Awareness Designation & Conservation IncentivesFort Chaffee / Ebbing AFRC / Fort Smith ANGB — Military Compatible Use ZonesArkansas Voluntary Agricultural District — Farmland Preservation & Nuisance DefenseBuffalo National River — Federal Adjacency & Viewshed (Newton, Searcy, Marion, Baxter Counties)McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System — Federal Navigation & Floodway CorridorArkansas Floodplain Management Act — NFIP-Aligned Local Mandate

Trigger predicate

When this evaluates true for a parcel, the law's preempted fields take precedence over base zoning.

OR
  • parcel.contains_jurisdictional_wetlands == True
  • parcel.contains_riparian_zone == True
  • project.involves_dredge_fill_or_stream_alteration == True

Preempted fields

2 fields on the base district schema are rewritten when the trigger fires.

FieldOpValueNote
review_typerequireanrd_wetlands_riparian_program_coordinationWetland or riparian-zone alteration triggers Arkansas Natural Resources Division program coordination, including tax-credit mitigation banking framework
base_districts[*].wetlands_riparian_buffer_requiredrequireTrueRiparian zone conservation program incentivizes (rather than mandates) buffer establishment, but parallel §404 USACE jurisdiction commonly applies

Citation

Authority source
Ark. Code Ann. §§15-22-201 et seq. (Water Resource Development Programs / Wetlands and Riparian Zones Conservation); Arkansas Wetland and Riparian Zone Tax Credit (Ark. Code §26-51-1501 et seq.)
§ §§15-22-201 et seq.
https://casetext.com/statute/arkansas-code-of-1987/title-15-natural-resources-and-economic-development/subtitle-2-resources-of-the-state/chapter-22-waters-and-watercourses

Research notes

Arkansas does NOT regulate isolated wetlands at the state level the way Tennessee does; post-Sackett v. EPA (2023) the regulated universe substantially contracted. State authority is primarily incentive-based (tax-credit mitigation, voluntary conservation easements). Federal §404 Clean Water Act and §401 certification (administered by ADEQ / Division of Environmental Quality) are the primary regulatory hooks. Federal conflict check applies. Mississippi Alluvial Plain (eastern AR) and major tributaries (White, St. Francis, Cache, Bayou Meto) carry the densest jurisdictional-wetland exposure.