SCOTT – A regional maintenance crew from the Tucker Unit recently completed a critical project at Toltec Mounds Archeological State Park. This partnership between the Arkansas Department of Corrections and the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism will help preserve a National Historic Landmark.

“The Department of Corrections continues to be willing to partner with local and state organizations such as the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism,” said Corrections Secretary Solomon Graves. “The use of our regional maintenance crews saves tax dollars and builds goodwill in communities across Arkansas.”

“We appreciate the Department of Corrections and their assistance in doing a job that would have taken our staff several weeks to accomplish,” said Stacy Hurst, secretary of the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism. “Partnerships such as this make us all more efficient.”

Park Superintendent Stewart Carlton agreed with Hurst and said removing overgrown vegetation from Mound A is a maintenance challenge at the 100-acre archeological complex that is home to some of the most significant remnants of Native American life in Arkansas.

The archeological site, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1978, also benefited from inmate workers in the 1990s, when trees were removed from the mounds.