Hot springs national park is surrounded by the north end of the city of the hot springs which has about 33,000 of the population. Even though some park borders are undeveloped forest lands, much of the park is adjacent to city streets and homes. These areas are subject to air pollution, exotic plant and animal species, and trash dumping. The park is an island of green in the developed downtown area. Resource inventories are currently underway to better prepare for the protection of the park’s natural resources.

The thermal springs are the primary natural resource of the park, but they have not been preserved in their unaltered state as natural surface phenomena. They have instead been managed to conserve the production of uncontaminated hot water for public use.

The mountains within the park are also managed within this conservation philosophy in order to preserve the hydrological system that feeds the springs. The park and its surrounding mountains exhibit a south-central United States pine-oak-hickory forest ecosystem. The park’s vegetation, thermal waters, cold water springs, bathhouses and associated cultural features, foot trails, prehistoric and historic novaculite quarries, and general physiography combine to form an almost 5400-acre area of resource preservation and interpretation that is under the exclusive legislative jurisdiction of the federal government. Another 672.69 acres are within the park boundary but are not federally owned.The city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, with an approximate population of 33,000, lies immediately outside the park and exerts a significant influence on it.