(ROGERS, Ark.) – Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area will host a free program on Mushrooms of the Ozarks … 2:00 pm June 23, 2024, in the park’s visitor center.

No - Hot lips disco, silky piggyback, Jack-O’-lantern, and Shaggy mane are not the names of our equine friends at Oaklawn, but rather the names of common mushrooms found in our neighborhoods. There’s more. Bleeding tooth? Devil’s urn? Witch’s butter? Hideous gomphidus?

Physician and Master Naturalist Mark Bowers has a passion for identifying and photographing the fungi and slime molds of this area. His award-winning photographs celebrate the beauty and diversity of these species.

Bowers will give an overview of the various ecological roles that fungi play in the forest ecosystem, and present photos of many beautiful and interesting mushrooms we find in the Ozarks. Don’t miss this colorful and interesting program.

For more information, contact the park’s visitor center at 479-789-5000.

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About Hobbs State Park – Conservation Area Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area heads the list as the largest of Arkansas’s 52 state parks with a 12,054-acre tract of Ozark landscape along the southern shore of Beaver Reservoir. It is a significant component of the northwest Arkansas ecosystem with carefully managed human impact. 

Highlights of this day-use park include a diverse, 54-mile trail system constructed for hiking, running, ADA, mountain biking, and horseback riding trails. The Park offers 11 primitive campsites, six available to mountain bikers, the first of their kind in northwest Arkansas. Hobbs is the only state park in Arkansas to allow regulated hunting. The visitor center includes exhibits about the park’s natural resources, limestone landscape, and history. Interpretive programs and workshops are offered throughout the year.