Unattended Death and Biohazard Cleanup in Felsenthal, AR

Felsenthal is an incorporated town in southeastern Union County, Arkansas, just north of the Louisiana state line, near where the Saline River flows into the Ouachita River.

Felsenthal was first incorporated on July 6, 1904, and it reincorporated in 1978.

With 85 residents in the 2020 census, down from 150 in 2010, Felsenthal is one of the smallest incorporated towns in Arkansas.

The town was an important center of the local lumber industry in its early decades, and the 2000 census counted 152 people in 70 households there.

Since 1975, Felsenthal's economy has rested largely on tourism, drawing hunters and anglers to the surrounding rivers, lakes, and bottomland hardwood forests.

The town gives its name to the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge, established in 1975 at the community's doorstep and spanning 65,000 acres across Union, Bradley, and Ashley counties.

The refuge's Felsenthal Pool is described as the world's largest green-tree reservoir, growing from about 15,000 acres to 36,000 acres under winter flooding that benefits waterfowl and hardwood trees.

The Felsenthal Lock and Dam on the Ouachita River, completed in 1984, regulates the refuge's seasonal flooding and created Lake Jack Lee.

By 1987 the little town counted about 150 permanent residences yet welcomed an average of 1,200 visitors each weekend.

The town covers about 1.7 square miles, more than a tenth of it water.