Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association
Dedicated to Conserving the Natural Areas of Fayetteville and its Environs for the Benefit of Present & Future Generations
About Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association
Our Roots | Accomplishments, Successes & Pressroom | Meet Our Boards | Contact a Board Member | Your 1-Stop Download Center | E-NewsletterOur Roots
From Acorn...
FNHA was formed in January of 2003 when rumors began to circulate that Mount Sequoyah Woods, a 67-acre natural area in the heart of Fayetteville, was going to be sold by the Western Methodist Assembly. 
Because of its beauty and easy accessibility, this forested tract has been a favorite hiking area for many, many years. In cooperation with the City of Fayetteville, FNHA committed to raising $300,000 (in private donations) of the $1,300,000 selling price. With this agreement in place, the City acquired Mount Sequoyah Woods from the Methodist Assembly, and FNHA followed through on its fundraising commitment.
The community-wide effort to "Save Mount Sequoyah Woods" brought the issue of undeveloped natural space to the attention of both private citizens and the business community within Fayetteville, most notably, real estate developers. As a result of our efforts, FNHA became recognized as an effective advocate for healthy green infrastructure, while not being perceived as anti-development.
To Seedling...
FNHA's mission is to identify and protect Fayetteville's most important natural areas and on our community's mature tree canopy. We are not against development. However, we think it is vitally important to preserve the most important natural spaces in our area for the enjoyment of current and future generations.
To date, FNHA has contributed to the conservation of over 110 acres of mature urban forest plus 2 acres of urban wetlands. Data from an FNHA-sponsored GIS conservation assessment were instrumental in helping obtain a 20-acre conservation easement on another tract, and provided the foundation for conserving a 14–acre, centrally located natural area, all within Fayetteville's city limits.
FNHA has earned an excellent reputation within our community for both conservation and common sense resulting in tremendous citizen support.
A Mighty Oak Grows
Accomplishments, Successes & Pressroom
Perhaps FNHA's more satisfying accomplishments are when we foster, encourage, and facilitate natural-area preservation projects within neighborhoods currently facing development. A wetland area in south Fayetteville
and an upland forest tract near the center of town are examples. Additionally we helped persuade the Barber Group and Tony DePalma's heirs to donate, in memory of Dr. DePalma, 30 wooded acres contiguous to the Mt. Sequoyah Woods bringing to 97 the total acres in that natural area.
In 2006, FNHA applied for and received a matching grant from the Arkansas Forestry Commission's Urban Forestry Program and the U.S. Forestry Service to identify and rank the best land parcels for preservation in and around Fayetteville. To do that, the Ozark Highland's office of the Nature Conservancy and the University of Arkansas Landscape Department teamed up to employ a computer mapping technique called "Geographic Information System" (GIS). (See "What Makes a Good Conservation Site") The City planners and developers have embraced the results of this FNHA-sponsored research as useful information for making decisions about future development projects within the city.
The League of Women Voters of Washington County nominated FNHA's GIS Project for the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Stewardship Award, known as the Envy of Arkansas Award. Our project placed first in the Innovation category.
FNHA won a regional award when the City of Fayetteville Parks and Recreation Department nominated us for the 2007 Organization of the Year in the Southwest Region National Recreation and Parks Association, citing our on-going conservation efforts. We were awarded an Organization Citation. The Southwest Region is comprised of Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Texas.
The GIS project accomplished many wonderful things, but it did not address the issue of securing long-term funding for the premium parcels that were identified. FNHA's current goal is to facilitate creative ways to preserve the most important tracts of green space uncovered in the GIS survey.
Citizens of Fayetteville understand the importance of having public natural spaces, such as forests, prairies and wetlands, to serve as retreats from the increasingly hectic pace of city life and to retain the natural Ozark setting of our city. The GIS study will be the basis for a sustainable conservation program which is currently being developed.
Meet Our Boards
Officers
Chairman: Bob Caulk
Bob and his wife, Sara, are both retired from the petroleum industry and moved to Fayetteville in 2000. In addition to serving on the governing board of FNHA for 4 years and organizing our fall supporters' party, he was part of the team that worked to preserve the Brooks-Hummel Nature Reserve, heavily involved in both the Urban Forest Conservation Assesmnet and the Green Infrastructure Planning project, helps with conservation easement monitoring, and was on the construction crew that built the kiosks at both entrances to Mt. Sequoyah Woods. Bob is also on the interim board of the Beaver Water District and serves on the board of the newly formed Beaver Watershed Alliance. Sara is FNHA's executive secretary, database manager, and website administrater. Bob and Sara are both working on the Lake Fayetteville Prairie Restoration project.
Vice-Chair: Karen Rollet-Crocker
Karen came to Fayetteville in 1985 when she took a position as Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Arkansas. She designed the kiosks at the entrances to Mt. Sequoyah Woods and has helped FNHA procure several grants. Karen has donated many hours of her time as a landscape architect toward matching grant funds for FNHA. Most significantly, she oversaw an urban forestry grant that profiled and ranked Fayetteville land parcels on their value as greenspace. Karen has recently retired from the U of A.
Treasurer: Tom Lonon
Tom is a 1965 graduate of Fayetteville High School. He and his wife Miriam each have multiple degrees from the University of Arkansas, where Miriam is employed as manager of environmental health and safety. Miriam earned her PhD in Medical Microbiology at Texas Tech School of Medicine in Lubbock, TX. They have lived in California, Texas and Ohio, having returned to Fayetteville in 1993. Tom is a retired captain from the United States Naval Reserve. Tom has been active in FNHA since its inception. Tom is on the board of directors and is secretary of the Fayetteville Lions Club, and is on the board of directors and secretary of the Lions Mid-South Sight and Hearing Service in Memphis, TN. He has a private practice as a Certified Public Accountant in Fayetteville.
Secretary: Nancy Varvil
Nancy grew up in Arkansas, but spent many years out of the state. She returned to Fayetteville in 1984 and has recently retired from the position of election coordinator for Washington County.
Barbara Boland -elected 2010 (bio to be added soon)
Wade Colwell was born and raised in Fayetteville and was the driving force in securing the parcel of land now known as Gully Park. He has three grown children, and along with wife, Shaune, has worked in the financial services field for over twenty years - both currently working as investment advisors. An avid outdoorsman, he has been involved with the Boy Scouts since childhood and is currently serving on the Westark Area Council Board after serving as Scoutmaster for 7 years. Wade is the Incomiong President of the Ozark Highlands Trail Association and is committed to seeing a completed hiking trail around Lake Sequoyah. When he's not working, he most likely will be found volunteering on many projects throughout the community or out communing with nature. Occasionally Wade, Shaune, and Welsh corgi, Rinny, might be found just relaxing at their cabin.
Deborah Coody brings her years of experience in local politics to the FNHA Board. She is also interested in gardening, cooking, art, and architecture. She works with her husband Dan as a builder and remodeler.
Steve Hatfield moved toFayetteville in 1990. In 1993, when he became a licensed landscape architect, he became the Trails and Greenways Coordinator for the City of Fayetteville and later worked as the Park Landscape Architect. He now owns a landscape architecture firm in Fayetteville that focuses on park, trail and site planning.
Peter Heinzelmann, M.D. co-founded FNHA and held the chairman position from inception in 2003 until February, 2008. Pete and his wife Margo came to Fayetteville in 1976 when he joined the Ozark Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Clinic as an orthopaedic surgeon and she worked as a nurse. Margo serves in the unofficial capacity as FNHA archivist and assists with correspondence. Pete has recently retired from practicing medicine.
Douglas James is FNHA's advisor on the biological characteristics of the natural environment in this area, and often writes about the flora and fauna for FNHA projects. Doug came to Fayetteville in 1953 and is a University Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas. He has published over 100 scientific publications and is the senior author of Arkansas Birds: Their Abundance and Distribution co-authored with Joe Neal.
Barbara Taylor has lived in Fayetteville since 1974. She recently retired from the University of Arkansas where she held the position of Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources. Barbara has been involved in a number of civic and charitable causes and has a special interest in environmental topics. She served two terms on the Washington County Quorum Court; led public education projects on water resources for the Washington County League of Women Voters, the Arkansas League of Women Voters, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation; and served on the first Fayetteville Citizens Advisory Committee on Waste Water Treatment. She has been an active participant in Fayetteville’s watershed education series and riparian zone protection activities and chairs the education committee of the newly-formed Beaver Lake Partnership. Barbara has agreed to serve as interim editor of the FNHA newsletter.
Chris Wilson was elected to the Board in 2010. After holding the position of The Nature Conservancy’s Preserve Director of the 17,000-acre Nickel Preserve near Talequah, Oklahoma, for nine years, Chris became the Program Manager for TNC’s Oklahoma Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains areas in 2010 and is now able to work from his home. Chris, his partner and 10-year old daughter moved to Fayetteville in 2007, and he very soon became actively involved with planning and setting up FNHA’s monitoring program for conservation easements. He has served on the Prairies subgroup of the Green Infrastructure Planning process and serves on the City of Fayetteville’s Tree and Landscape Advisory Committee. It was Chris’s knowledge pertaining to native grasslands and tall grass prairies, and his enthusiasm to help preserve natural areas in northwest Arkansas that motivated him to spearhead the cooperative project between FNHA and the City of Fayetteville to restore the tallgrass prairie and oak savanna at Lake Fayetteville.
Advisory Board
Sue Condren, artist
Terry Condren, entrepreneur
Robert Cross, professor emeritus, chemical engineering, University of Arkansas
Al Einert, landscape architect
Dan Ferritor, professor of sociology and former chancellor, University of Arkansas
Colene Gaston, staff attorney, Beaver Water District
Joyce Hale, retired business manager, Hale Engineering; President, League of Women Voters Washington County
Paul LeBlanc, retired medical technologist, Veterans Administration Hospital
Maxine LeBlanc, retired mathematics teacher, Woodland Jr. High School
Bob Morgan, environmental officer, Beaver Water District
Paige Mulhollan, president Wright State University, retired
Mary Bess Mulhollan, homemaker and nature photographer
Dennis Petersen, mortgage banker, Wells Fargo
Frank Sharp, president, Ozark Mountain Smokehouse
Sara Sharp, musician
Kimberly Smith, chair, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas
Duane Woltjen, co-founder FNHA, retired engineer, Marshalltown Tools
Judy Woltjen, retired nurse, Butterfield Trail Village
Contact a Board Member
Bob Caulk 973-2968 bobcaulk@cox.net
Karen Rollet-Crocker 790-5539 krollet@uark.edu
Tom Lonon 527-6982 Tom@lononcpa.com
Nancy Varvil 871-7023 nvarvil@yahoo.com
Barbara Boland barbaraboland@hotmail.com
Wade Colwell 4668345 wadecolwell@sbcglobal.net
Deborah Coody 443-6758 dcoody@swbell.net
Steve Hatfield 443-3294 shatfieldrla@aol.com
Pete Heinzelmann 521-8973 petemarg@cox.net
Doug James 575-6364
Barbara Taylor btaylor@uark.edu
Chris Wilson 799-5321 cwilson@TNC.org
Duane Woltjen 521-7032 ozarktraveler1@att.net
Your 1-Stop Download Center
In Progress
Green Infrastructure Planning
Frank & Sara Sharp Conservation Easement
Urban Forest Conservation Assessment report
Water Issues in Arkansas - Winrock Foundation Report Summary
Water Issues in Arkansas - Winrock Foundation Summary Companion Report
Go Native When You Go Green - Consider Replanting Northwest Arkansas with Native Trees and Shrubs - Article and List of Native/Non-Native plants by Bruce Shackleford, President ECO, Inc.
Scull Creek Fact Sheet- + Watershed Best Management Practices fun facts
E-Newsletter
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Volume 6 Issue 3, October 2009
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