“Who” wants to join a lakeside summer night campfire tour? Save the date and come out to South Fork Nature Center’s new pavilion by Greers Ferry Lake on Saturday, July 28, 2018 for a night creature walk through the South Fork Nature Center!
Summer nights, full moon, s’mores around the fire by the Lake…
Please join us at South Fork Nature Center on the Saturday evening of July 28th for a unique experience in “Owl Prowling”. Docents Joyce and Bob Hartmann will be hosting the event starting at the new outdoor classroom/pavilion at 7:30. Smores will be shared around the fire pit and Bob Hartman will give a brief talk on the Owls we might find in Arkansas. At dusk, the group will then “prowl” the trails in hopes of spotting some of our resident owls. There should be a full moon that night. If you bring a flashlight, it should have red cellophane wrapped around it. Also, wearing white shoes can make it easier to walk the trails at dusk. This should be an informative, fun evening. We hope to see you there.
The Gates Rogers Foundation held a very successful Fundraiser Saturday night (June 9, 2018) benefiting their South Fork Nature Center. “Finger Food” acoustical guitar group played two sets of “crowd-pleasing” music at the Fairfield Bay Conference Center. The guitarists performed “in the round” and traded songs and stories about their compositions and their approach to the guitar in the casual concert setting. The music focused on contemporary instrumental American Fingerstyle Guitar with folk, jazz, Celtic, classical and blues influences.
The Gates Rogers Foundation and all the people who work so hard to make South Fork Nature Center a success want to thank the group for donating their time and talent to help raise money for the educational mission of the center.
The night included refreshments, cash bar and a great silent auction. Tables were decorated with the “woodsy” theme of the nature center, including fresh flowers, educational trail books, plant artifacts, lanterns, magnifying glasses, dissecting scopes, walking sticks, and student artwork.
Many docents and friends of South Fork stepped up to the plate by donating items to our Silent Auction. The theme of the Auction was “Arkansas Artists-Arkansas Destinations.” There were blown glass goblets, a hand turned wooden bowl, oil paintings, pastels, water color pieces, pottery, jewelry, grilling tools, a unique glass sculpture of a quilt square, a stained glass sun catcher, along with an outfitter trip on the Little Red River, a 2 night stay at a fishing cottage on the Little Red River, and a 2 night stay at the Whispering Wings Ranch (located near the Kings River) donated by The Nature Conservancy.
We also want to thank our sponsors, starting with First Security Bank of Clinton (who not only donated money to sponsor our event but sold our tickets locally). Additional sponsors include CiCis Pizza of Central Arkansas, The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas, Graham & Associates, Inc., Davis Cash Lumber, Edward Jones of Clinton and Fairfield Bay, PEH Hardware in Choctaw, Petit Jean Electric, and Crossman Printing. Many thanks goes to all who pitched in to make this a successful night!
Saturday, June 16! Plan your FREE fun day and field trip for all ages, exploring the wonderful world of Pollinators at the Nature Center! 10-Noon
This just might be our favorite day of the year! Arts & crafts, guided tours, and up-close encounters. Everyone is welcome! Call 501-745-6444 with questions.
South Fork Nature Center, one of Arkansas’ premier conservation and environmental educations centers, announces a fund raising evening on June 9, 2018 at the Fairfield Bay Convention Center to benefit the 501C organization. The doors open at 6:30pm for a silent auction and refreshments. Tickets/Donations are $45 per person and will include refreshments and there will be a cash bar as well.
Finger Food is a feast not only for guitar lovers, but also for anyone with a passion for acoustic music. The guitarists perform “in the round” and trade songs and stories about their compositions and their approach to the guitar in a casual concert setting. The music focuses on contemporary instrumental American Fingerstyle Guitar with folk, jazz, Celtic, classical and blues influences.
Sponsors for the event include The Nature Conservancy, Hyden, Miron & Foster, PLLC, First Security Bank, Davis Cash Lumber, Edward Jones, Cicis Pizza, Graham & Associates, PEH Hardware and Petit Jean Electric Cooperative.
Blockbuster month for South Fork visitors & activities!
Total from April 23-May 23, 2018:
Students: 220
Teachers & Chaperones: 21
Scheduled community visitors for events: 73
Grand total = 314 + countless docents and board members working the events and classes
April 23: South Side Elementary
Science study during the school year “hit the road” as students walked trails, sat in study groups in the woods, and did “hands on” activities at the tables. Erin Scrimshire’s Southside Bee Branch 4th graders (34 of them) spent time in the out-of-doors stomping out the “nature deficit syndrome.”
It was exciting to experience ecosystems that a number of animals call home: black vultures, tufted titmice, armadillos, squirrels, turtles, lizards (just turn over a rotting log and see earthworms, centipedes, termites in their homes).
Flowers had nearly finished their bloom on the oaks in their very tiny “acorn,” female flowers and long strings of male flower anthers; white oak acorns will soon be developing this year. Eye-catching red buckeye flowers had sepals, petals, stamens and pistils seen through a hand lens, all of which aided in the success of the buckeye shrubs scattered over the north slope. Yellow buttercup flowers from herbs in the open field sported many stamens above 5, shiny, yellow petals.
Breaks around noon for energy from sack lunches gave time to visit with friends. Many would say that the outdoor classroom surely provided for learning about the world around us. Nature at its best!
April 24: Arkansas FAM Tour
On Tuesday, April 24, guests from the Arkansas Tourists Association’s “FAM Tour” (short for “Familiarization”) stopped for lunch at South Fork during their trek through Van Buren County. These FAM members represent over 20 Arkansas welcome centers across the state, where they assist travelers in planning their trip, answering questions and sharing their real-life experiences of amazing places to visit in Arkansas.
Judge Roger Hooper is shown here addressing our guests during a luncheon provided by the City of Clinton.
April 25: Nemo Vista Sophomores
Scott Perry and Jared Brice’s Nemo Vista students (40 of them came on Wednesday, April 25th) set up game cameras in the woods, verifying that the woods are alive and active even after dark. A check for bugs on leaves and twigs or under moist logs yielded exciting results. Shelter in the new outdoor classroom/pavilion was convenient as a few raindrops began to fall, watering the trailside ecosystems. Even the circular fire pit centered under the roof was appreciated when a fire built of nearby cedar warmed kids in the chill of the morning air.
May 8: Rosebud Pre-AP Class Visit
Rose Bud students arrived at the front gate at 9:00 AM to spend the day. Their pre-advanced placement curriculum taught by Margaret Moon had prepared them for discussions in greater depth about ecosystem habitats, bugs, and flowers.
Students from Nemo Vista High School gather at Riddle Cabin after a field day
Could the bright, pink veins of the big evening primrose petals serve as “runways” guiding insects in search of the nectar in the center of the flower where nectaries could be found? Look at those masses of mealy, pollen all globbed up on the anther surfaces! Will the sperm nuclei in those pollen grains find the eggs in the ovary in the pistil of another primrose flower? How does the diploid primrose plant (diploid because each nucleus of the plant has a set of genes each from the “mother and father”) produce haploid gametes, sperm and eggs, that can fuse in the fertilization process after pollination occurred in the flower? Are all flowers showy and pretty, attracting some pollinator (a bee, bird, butterfly)? The oak that has only many anthers that dangle in strings releasing light weight pollen the wind can carry (and some of it missed the tiny acorn flowers and gets in your eyes and nose)…no showy flowers here! Yes, why should the oak spend its energy making pretty flowers when only wind is needed to transfer pollen, not insects? There is so much flowering biology!
Lunches came out at 12:30, finally, before hikes through the woods to the waterfall or to the far end of the peninsula. “Search, find those ticks, tiny seed ticks, before they infect you with one of the five tick diseases” was the request heard by students as they boarded the bus for return to campus, but not before the group picture in front of the Riddle Cabin.
May 11: Clinton 6th Graders
Lots of them! One hundred Clinton 6th graders under the watchful eye of Sarah Forrest. South Fork trails were busy with 5 docents leading their groups into the “wilds of the glades and woodlands” (50 in the AM and 50 in the PM). Destination: waterfall at flatrock creek on the tip of South Fork’s peninsula.
How do organisms function? What adaptations allow for their successful structure, reproduction, living in the woods…both plants and animals? Students were overheard saying the “South Fork classroom” was neat and fun for the day’s lesson!
South Fork was also proud to host visits by our Foothills chapter Master Naturalist friends, in a tree identification trail walk on May 7, and the Fairfield Bay Master Gardeners, in a plant structure & identification study on May 19 (these gardeners helped our Milkweed project that started a couple of years ago). South Fork is the perfect venue for hands-on nature observation and group learning!
Don Culwell will give a public talk at the Van Buren County Library on Saturday, April 28, 9 AM, showcasing the Herbarium, the collection and its use. Representative specimens housed in the cabinet will be on display. Immediately following the presentation, we’ll leave the library and meet at SFNC at the 100 year old Riddle Cabin on the grounds for coffee and refreshments prior to the spring nature walk along the trails. Dr. Culwell will lead a public walk at South Fork Nature Center where many spring flowers and newly leafed-out plants of the spring flora will be seen along the trails through the woods and glades.
What’s in the Herbarium Cabinet at the Van Buren County Library?
It is a collection of dried, pressed plants, each labeled with data including its name, habitat, collector, and date. These 837 plants represent all the vascular plants found growing at South Fork Nature Center that were collected during 2005. The scientific study was undertaken by professional botanists Theo Witsell and Brent Baker at the direction SFNC and the Gates Rogers Foundation. The botanists visited the site every two weeks of the growing season that year. They collected and recorded a representative specimen of each species they encountered.This created a scientific documentation of all plant populations in the ecosystems of the approximate 120 acre peninsula known as SFNC. These findings of Witsell and Baker were presented before a meeting of the Arkansas Academy of Science (Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science, Vol. 60, 2006); they included a summary of the floristic diversity and descriptions of the plant communities in the study area. At the time of this study, Witselland Baker’s findings were the most extensive for any piece of land its size found in the state.
Browse our website for more about our educational programs, facilities, and click the map for directions to the nature center!
South Fork Nature Center 
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