Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association, Inc

About Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association

Our 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.

New Brooks Hummel Nature Preserve 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 Pond at Brooks-Hummel Preserve 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.

Karen Rollet-Crocker (center) receiving the ARDEQ Envy award 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 9 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 Assessment 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 serves as Board President of of the newly formed Beaver Watershed Alliance. Sara works behind the scene as FNHA's executive secretary, database manager, and website administrator. 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 retired from the U of A in 2010.

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: Terri Lane
Terri was raised on Kessler Mountain in Fayetteville and is a graduate of the University of Arkansas with a degree in Environmental Soil and Water Science. A career in environmental education took Terri to North Carolina for several years where she worked as an outdoor science and adventure instructor, and ultimately Program Director for NC State University’s 4-H Environmental Education Program. In 2000, Terri returned to Fayetteville to serve as Education Director for the Ozark Natural Science Center, and later opened and operated an eco-friendly clothing and gift boutique in downtown Fayetteville for three years before starting a family. Today, Terri and her husband Alan live in east Fayetteville with their two young daughters, Eliza and Ivy. In 2012 Terri was elected to the FNHA board and became the Executive Director of the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust. Avid about wildlife conservation and the role of green infrastructure in habitat preservation, Terri is also an Arkansas Master Naturalist and serves on the City of Fayetteville’s Environmental Action Committee where she initiated and directs the Community Wildlife Habitat™.

Governing Board
John Coleman received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Arkansas in 2000 and graduated from the University of Texas with a Masters in Public Affairs in 2007. His background includes design and construction of wetlands restoration projects in the Arkansas delta and working as the Director of Sustainability for the City of Fayetteville where he developed the City’s first sustainability office. In 2012, John joined the sustainable building consulting firm, Viridian, as their Regional Office Director in Fayetteville.   John and his wife Angie have three children Caleb, Sydney and Quinn. In his spare time he likes trail running, camping, and working around their home in Fayetteville. He was elected to the board in 2013.

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 retired from practicing medicine in 2010.

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.

Dorothy Neely was elected to the board in 2011. Dot and husband, Jami Lockhart, have resided in Fayetteville for the better part of the past forty years. Both graduated from Fayetteville High School in the mid-1970s and in the 1980s completed Geoscience degrees at the UA/Fayetteville. They have a great appreciation for the amenities of living in NW Arkansas and the natural environment, in which they spend spare moments exploring by canoe, mountain bikes, or on foot. In August 2008, Dot attended the first FNHA Green Infrastructure Planning Project (GIPP) Stakeholders Meeting. She signed on to serve as Scribe for the Project’s Leadership Group Resource Team and in a supportive role as a GIPP GIS Mapping process sounding board, as well as to assist with editing the final draft of the Project report (in progress). She has volunteered time and abilities to the selection of and layout for the 2010 FNHA Founders Fall Fund Raiser invitations, designing the FNHA Scholarship Gift Card for the Alternate Gift Market, and preparing Green Infrastructure signage for the Fayetteville Trail System. In May 2010, Dot accepted an invitation to attend monthly FNHA Board meetings and has been adding significant value to the team since that meeting.

Dana Smith - bio in progress

Barbara Taylor has lived in Fayetteville since 1974. She retired from the University of Arkansas in 2010 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, chairs the education committee of the newly-formed Beaver Lake Partnership and serves on the Board of Directors of the Beaver Watershed Alliance. Barbara has agreed to serve as interim co-editor of the FNHA newsletter.

Joe Woolbright, who was elected to the Board in July, 2012, was born and raised in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Joe is a retired general contractor, long time conservation activist, and is the founder and director of Ozark Ecological Restoration, Inc., a non-profit corporation dedicated to restoring unique Ozark natural communities. Joe's hobbies include the tri-sports and hiking.

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; League of Women Voters Washington County board
Paul LeBlanc, retired medical technologist, Veterans Administration Hospital
Maxine LeBlanc, retired mathematics teacher, Woodland Jr. High School
Bob Morgan, environmental officer, Beaver Water District
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

John Coleman  john@ViridianUSA.com
Pete Heinzelmann 521-8973 petemarg@cox.net
Doug James 575-6364 djames@uark.edu
Terri Lane treehuggerlane@cox.net
Dot Neely dgn.edensgreen@gmail.com
Dana Smith
Barbara Taylor 530-1098 btaylor@uark.edu
Duane Woltjen 521-7032 ozarktraveler1@att.net
Joe Woolbright  427-4277 joewoolbright @cox-internet.com

Your 1-Stop Download Center

In Progress

GIP Report Appendix 17. Survey of Fayetteville Registered Voters on Conservation Issues
Green Infrastructure Planning
►FNHA produced DVD "Green Infrastructure in Our Communities" available for viewing on City of Fayetteville website
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
►National Wildlife Federation® Community WILDLIFE Habitat™ certification application form

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