It is thought that Arkansas originally contained about 9.8 million acres of wetlands, or about 30% of the total surface area of the state. That all changed in the 20th century when the wetlands were drained and converted to farmland. By the 1980s, the number of wetlands dropped to 2.8 million acres, a 72% loss. br/ br/The Delta region experienced the sharpest drop, with most of the land being converted into agricultural use (by 1990, the number of wetlands in the Delta dropped from 8 million acres to only about 875,000 acres). Of all the inland states in the US, Arkansas tops the list with the most wetland acreage lost.br/ br/Taken: 2012