Prairie Island Camping Area

public land records

Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge land. fws.gov Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge activities page, read 2026-08-16, verbatim: "Visitors have access to ten different primitive camping areas on the refuge", "No reservations or fees are required", and "Camping is permitted only within the designated primitive camping areas." "Camping area entrances are marked by signs, and boundaries are marked with orange paint." The refuge page does not publish a stay limit; refuge rules, not AGFC's WMA rules, govern here. AGFC records NO 'last_verified_date' for this point -- age unknown. COORDINATE PROVENANCE: the latitude and longitude on this row are AGFC's own, taken from the public ArcGIS service https://gisec2.agfc.com/arcgis/rest/services/GIS/AGFC_DATA/MapServer layer 1 ('Public Use Facilities'), queried 2026-08-16 for ftype IN ('RVs Allowed - No Hookups','Tents Only','RVs Allowed - Hookups','RVs Allowed - Hookups and Dump'). This is the agency's mapped facility point, NOT a field visit and NOT a geocode. The fee flag on this row is AGFC's own 'fdescrip' column reading 'No Fee Site'. AGFC does not publish per-site facility detail, so the presence of a table, fire ring, toilet or trash service is UNKNOWN and is not claimed here. NO WATER SOURCE IS CLAIMED -- treat any lake, river or bayou nearby as NON-POTABLE. AGFC's facility type for this point is 'RVs Allowed - No Hookups'. Nearest town: Crossett ~11.1 mi. 'Nearest town' is STRAIGHT-LINE distance to the nearest OpenStreetMap place=city/town/village and is NOT a driving distance; in the Delta bottoms and the Ouachitas the road in can be far longer. Ingest 2026-08-16. STATUS=pending: this is a lead for review, not published. --- NIGHT-SHIFT REVIEW 2026-08-18 (reviewer=nightshift-verified) --- RE-CHECKED 2026-08-18. I re-fetched the refuge's own camping page, https://www.fws.gov/refuge/felsenthal/visit-us/activities/camping, and it still says verbatim: "Visitors have access to ten different primitive camping areas on the refuge. No reservations or fees are required. Camping area entrances are marked by signs, and boundaries are marked with orange paint." I also re-queried AGFC's live ArcGIS layer 1 today: this point still exists, and its name, its 'No Fee Site' flag and its coordinates are exactly what we recorded. Its 'Associated Location' field reads 'Felsenthal NWR', so the refuge citation above is the right one for THIS row. AGFC maps 8 of the refuge's ten camping areas; those 8 are what we hold. THE REFUGE PAGE CARRIES RULES THE ORIGINAL NOTE DID NOT RECORD -- these are firm and the published page should carry them: "Camping is permitted only within the designated primitive camping areas, and in conjunction with on-refuge wildlife-dependent activities. Campers may stay no more than fourteen (14) days during any thirty (30) consecutive-day period in any campground. Camps must be occupied daily. All disturbances (including the use of generators) are prohibited after 10 PM. Camping on the refuge while hunting off the refuge is prohibited. Campfires are permitted only within camping areas and must be attended at all times. Only downed wood may be used for fires." The page also warns: "Caution: During periods of high fire danger, all open fires are prohibited." PERMIT -- FREE BUT REQUIRED: the refuge's rules-and-policies page (https://www.fws.gov/refuge/felsenthal/visit-us/rules-policies), read the same day, says "Refuge Access Permits are required for all refuge users. When signed and in your possession, the cover section of the Public Use Regulations brochure serves as your Refuge Access permit for all refuge hunts (except all Quota Hunts) and other permissible activities". You pick that brochure up at refuge headquarters or from brochure boxes near the entrance of refuge access roads, or download it -- so camping here is genuinely free, but you must be carrying the signed brochure cover. (This is NOT the paid annual permit its northern neighbour Dale Bumpers White River NWR charges -- do not confuse the two.) NOT A DUPLICATE on coordinates against anything we publish. VERDICT: approved.

US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.

On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.