Explorers who find the going a little easier at some of the area's wild places can thank the Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalists.
These stewards of the outdoors nip the briars out of trail corridors. They tear out rusty barb wire that can trip a hunter or bird watcher. They do whatever needs done to make sure acres of public land are nice places to visit.
Trail maintenance was on the agenda during a typical work day when a dozen or so Master Naturalists gathered Oct. 21 at the Sweden Creek Falls Natural Area near Kingston. A one-mile trail leads to magnificent Sweden Creek Falls that plunges 80 feet from a cleft in the bluff at the back of a box canyon.
Sweden Creek is just one of the natural areas that benefit from their work. They also volunteer at Searles Prairie in Rogers, Kings River Falls, Chesney Prairie near Siloam Springs, Devil's Eyebrow near Gateway and other tracts. All are under the wing of the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission.
Their labor is much appreciated, said Chris Jones with the commission. He helped out at Sweden Creek on a sunny Friday.
"Their work is so beneficial. They take care of a lot of our places," Jones said. "We'd never have the personnel to do everything they do."
The buzz of weed trimmers was in the air at Sweden Creek Falls. Bird songs and a breeze are the only sounds on other days. Volunteers groomed a corridor on each side of the trail. Others trekked into the woods to remove rusty wire fence that is all over the area's 136 acres.
Several of the Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalists have informally adopted a natural area to take care of, with help from others in the group. Tom and Christie Waggoner, who live near Rogers, adopted Sweden Creek Falls. There was a need for maintenance on the tract, Christie said, so the Waggoners stepped up.
"It's more fun than work," she said.
The volunteers take several weeks of classroom and field training to become a certified Master Naturalist. They do service work from year to year to keep up their certification. That might be staffing an educational exhibit at an event, guiding hikes, presenting a nature program or doing trail work.
Fence removal is the biggest need at Sweden Creek, Jones said. He can't fathom why there is so much old wire fence, but there seems to be miles of it. And it's dangerous.
"For us safety is the big thing. If there's ever a wildfire and we've got a fire crew in here, we don't want them running into fences," he said. More than a dump truck load of it has been taken out so far, Jones added.
Ken French of the Lake Wedington area waded into the forest with Jones to rip out more fence. It's work that French enjoys.
"I was a professor at John Brown University. When I retired I wanted to do something different, and this is totally different." He enrolled in training and became a Master Naturalist.
"I've always liked the woods, and the Master Naturalists have a lot of experts who know birds and plants. They're interesting people to hang out with," French said.
This day's focus was work, but no doubt the volunteers will return later, after a big rain, to see Sweden Creek Falls in all its grandeur.
"It's the third highest waterfall in Arkansas," Jones said.
Winter is the best season to visit the natural area, he added. Adventurous souls who hike to the waterfall after an ice storm are rewarded with icicles, some 20 feet long, and the tumbling Sweden Creek cascade.
In the spring, wild azaleas bloom along the two trails that lead to the waterfall. There's an upper trail that leads to the top, while a lower trail guides visitors to the bottom. The upper trail is the easiest to hike.
"Natural areas get established in different ways," Jones explained. "Some we purchase. Some are left to us in wills. Others are conservation easements where the landowner still owns the property, but we manage it. Sometimes The Nature Conservancy buys a big piece of land ,and we'll manage it."
Each area is a little nicer to visit, thanks to work by the Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalists.
Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip
Sports on 11/22/2016