Healing Waters

KIM ROWLAND DOLLINS
Pangburn

Kim Rowland Dollins’ life seemed never too far away from a fishing hole. Growing up in southern Missouri and central Arkansas, she frequently fished with her father, uncles and cousins. 

Fifteen years ago, looking for a way to cope with an ugly divorce, she’d make her way to the riverbank and watch fly-fishermen ply their trade. Captivated, she made up her mind to give it a try and a new love was born. 

Later, she escaped the stress of corporate America by semi-retiring to a life of guiding, establishing Ryder’s Run Guide Service in Pangburn in 2015. 

“I still get the same great feeling of accomplishment and self-confidence in doing something challenging,” she said. “I get emotional about it, especially when I hear other women say they don’t believe they could ever learn to fly-fish and love it. I respond to them, ‘Come spend the afternoon with me and I’ll change your mind.’”

Rowland Dollins’ desire to share the love of fly-fishing with others has taken several forms. She’s been active in a number of groups – Trout Unlimited Chapter 722, the Little Red River Foundation and Arkansas Fly Fishers, among others – through which she’s worked to expand fishing opportunities and preserve and improve trout streams, something she sees as inextricably linked. 

“The push for more diversity will allow more voices to be heard on the conservation of our cold-water fisheries,” she said.

Some of her most impactful volunteer work has been with The Mayfly Project, which introduces foster kids aging out of the system to the joys of fly-fishing, and Casting for Recovery, which takes breast cancer patients into the stream and among peers for support. 

“The physical movement of fly-fishing is great for women healing from breast cancer. It is also a very powerful emotional healing tool for many women, and men, recovering from cancer, PTSD, anxiety, depression,” she said.

“Seeing how so many folks overcome their fear of learning something they secretly want to learn but are fearful to try is what I still love most about this. Empowering those folks and helping them learn and become well enough that they land fish on their own, and the look on their faces and in their eyes, is what inspires me.”

Green Warriors

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY
Little Rock

The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas has been working cooperatively with private landowners, businesses, public agencies and other organizations to conserve and restore the lands and waters of The Natural State since 1982.

Working with these partners, The Conservancy has helped conserve over 325,000 acres in Arkansas. These partnerships have protected more than 30 million trees in the Delta, conserved more than 25 miles of river in the Kings River, Saline River and Greers Ferry Lake watersheds, conducted dozens of stream restorations using natural channel design, and worked to improve forest health and wildlife habitat using prescribed fire. 

The Conservancy owns or co-owns more than 30 preserves and natural areas with the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission on 35,000 acres that are open for the public to enjoy for hiking, climbing, biking, canoeing, hunting, fishing and exploring. And now the organization has entered a new chapter in its history, creating trails to allow the public to enjoy natural areas.

“On Oct. 11, five miles of trail [opened] to the public for hiking and mountain biking at Rattlesnake Ridge Natural Area,” said Mitchell Allen, recreational use project manager. “While we have hiking trails at other preserves such as the William Kirsch Preserve within Ranch North Woods and Smith Creek in Boxley Valley, this is our first multi-use trail with an emphasis on mountain bikes on some sections.”

The future lies in leveraging existing partnerships to engage the public in new ways, said Devan Schlaudraff, conservation leadership development program manager.

“Thanks to partners like the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, hundreds of thousands of acres have been conserved and restored for people to enjoy. That’s a huge win,” Schlaudraff said. 

“But we’re learning that conserving places isn’t enough if people don’t know or understand how and why we do it. Figuring out how to engage more people in new ways to share how conservation is important to everyone is our biggest challenge. It’s a fun and rewarding puzzle we’re eager to solve.”

Good Beer, Great Cause

OZARK BEER COMPANY & FAYETTECHILL
Northwest Arkansas

When two iconic Northwest Arkansas brands join forces to help fund conservation work, the result is bound to be special. That’s exactly what happened when Fayetteville outdoor lifestyle apparel maker Fayettechill teamed up with Ozark Beer Company of Rogers to produce River Water Lager this summer.

“The outdoors were a part of our story long before we opened our doors,” said Marty Shutter, Ozark’s marketing director. “The idea for our brewery was dreamed up by [co-founders]Lacie Bray and Andy Coates along a riverbank as river guides in Colorado.

“Enjoying an Ozark beer with friends on the river, a trail or in a backyard has always been the driving philosophy behind what we choose to brew.”

The two companies broached the idea for a collaboration several years ago, but it wasn’t until 2019 – Fayettechill’s 10th anniversary – that things came together. 

“I wanted to make a beer that was refreshing any month out of the year with my favorite brewery in Arkansas. I really have enjoyed seeing Ozark Beer Company rise to what they are today and am honored they decided to work with our company,” Mo Elliott, Fayettechill founder, said.

“Working with people in the community that share our same ideals of conservation and creating an amazing beer that gives back to organizations, that preserve the Ozarks has been a great ride.”

Ten percent of sales – more than $4,000 in all – has gone to a variety of organizations, including NWA Land Trust, Buffalo River Foundation, Ozark Off Road Cyclists and Arkansas Climbers Coalition. And while the initiative will end Dec. 31, the experience has the two sides pondering similar projects in the future.

“Sometimes you can do business while doing good,” Shutter said. “We’re in a fortunate place where that happens often for us. Life’s short and while we have this opportunity to use our passions for good while also running a business that does right by its employees and community, we’re going to go for it.”  

“It’s been a great summer being able to give back to organizations that do wonders for our community,” Elliott said. “If we can be a catalyst for them to gain awareness for all they do, then we feel like we are making an impact.”

Natural Woman

TERRI LANE
Fayetteville

Growing up on Kessler Mountain in Fayetteville, Terri Lane developed early a protective streak for nature. Not surprisingly, her professional life has been filled with roles serving the outdoors. 

“My career in conservation began in 1997 as an outdoor environmental educator, program director and wilderness instructor; first in North Carolina, and then back to Arkansas where I served as the education director at the Ozark Natural Science Center,” she said. 

“As an educator, I could bring awareness to people, particularly the next generation, hopefully sparking a ripple effect of understanding and a sense of connectedness to nature that would lead to a greater appreciation and conservation of wild spaces.”

After a short stint as an entrepreneur, she stayed home to raise her daughters while remaining a visible activist for conservation causes. As a part of the Fayetteville Environmental Action Committee, she led the city to become the first Certified Community Wildlife Habitat in the state as designated by the National Wildlife Federation.

She also implemented Schoolyard Habitat areas on school properties and became active in the Caring for Creation movement, giving presentations to area churches about the connection between people and nature. She put that message into action by forming a Green Team at her own church, St. Paul’s Episcopal in Fayetteville, working with the youth there to calculate the carbon footprint of the parish and implement changes to reduce that footprint.

In 2012, Lane accepted the position as executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust, which has permanently protected 3,500 acres in Northwest Arkansas and seeks to save an additional 5,000 acres of priority natural areas and raise $2.8 million to fund its work.

“We have to take a long-view to develop and invest in strategies for smart growth and protect what we have,” she said. “Decision-makers need to broaden the lens when making growth and planning decisions to consider not only what is being built, but what is being set aside. And we must recognize the immense value of nature and the economic return of land conservation and invest in protecting our natural environment just as we invest in developing our built environment.

“We can do this by working together across parcel and political lines; we’re all part of a larger ecosystem, watershed and collective future.”

Dynamic Duo

GARY DON STELL & K-9 LUCY
Camden

On the roster of dynamic duos for good, Sr. Cpl. Gary Don Stell and K-9 Lucy set the pace in the Arkansas wilds. 

Stell, a Fordyce native who has spent nearly 30 years in law enforcement, 21 of them as an Arkansas Game and Fish Commision Wildlife Officer, and Lucy, a 7-year-old Black Lab, have been a team for six years. In that time, they have repeatedly distinguished themselves for meritorious service. 

At ceremonies in March, the duo received the Governor’s Lifesaving Award for locating a subject who had attempted suicide before they located her, unresponsive but alive. The woman was treated and later recovered. They also earned the Warden’s Cross award for tracking an elderly man who went missing, finding the subject who’d suffered a stroke in 32 degree cold weather. 

Other honors include 2019 Arkansas Wildlife Officer of the Year, 2019 National Wild Turkey Federation Officer of the Year for Arkansas and Arkansas Attorney General’s Officer of the Year both for Dallas County and for the Southwest Region of the state. As well, Lucy has received numerous letters of appreciation from local sheriff’s departments.

For Stell, such awards are just the icing on the cake, professionally speaking. 

“Growing up in the outdoors, hunting and fishing was a large part of my life and I wanted to see these things protected,” he said. “While working as a Deputy Sheriff for Dallas County [in the 1990s] I saw the great job that the local Wildlife Officers were doing and I soon knew that was what I wanted to do.”

Lucy is Stell’s second K-9 and he praised his partner for her steadfast and dependable work, saying she is a major reason they’d been so richly decorated in the line of duty.

“Being able to work to protect our great outdoors, the wildlife, the fish and the land, is a great job and being able to have a dog with you at all times just makes it that much better,” he said. 

“Having the K-9 is a large responsibility but having that extra tool overwhelms the responsibility. The K-9 is an excellent tool not only for me and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, but for all Arkansas police agencies.”