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Episode9 – Arkansas Delta

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Screenings Held for Arkansas-Filmed Episodes of ‘America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell’

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Arkansas-filmed episodes of the PBS series America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell will be premiered in free, back-to-back screenings Thursday, April 21, in Fayetteville and Bentonville. These two half-hour episodes highlight what’s exceptional about Arkansas through interviews with an array of stakeholders in the forest culture and economy in regions around the state.

A screening event for the U of A campus community will be held from 12:30 to 2 p.m. April 21 in Vol Walker Hall. A public screening event will be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. that day at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Registration for the Crystal Bridges event is available at: crystalbridges.org/calendar/april-film-americas-forests.

These screenings are presented through a collaboration between the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, Crystal Bridges and the producers of America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell. Each event will include a conversation with Leavell, as well as a short performance of music from his career. Each event also will include a screening of a 30-minute version of the documentary Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man, which shows how Leavell divides his talents between music, forests and family.

Leavell may be best known as the keyboardist and musical director for The Rolling Stones, but he is also an educated and enthusiastic forestry advocate, conservationist and tree farmer. As host of the America’s Forests series, Leavell serves as the on-camera guide, traveling across the country to interview people who are passionate about the gifts provided by the woodlands and exploring creative solutions to complex problems impacting this important natural resource. The series is produced by Choose Outdoors and 42 Degrees North Media.

The production crew filmed the two Arkansas episodes in locations throughout the state in 2021. The episodes celebrate the natural resources and cultural heritage of Arkansas, which is nearly 57 percent forested, with almost 12 billion trees of diverse species growing on almost 19 million acres.

“Filming in Arkansas was truly an inspirational experience,” Leavell said. “The wonderful people we met across the state, the magnificent scenery and outdoor adventures, and the introduction to the many benefits of Arkansas’ forests all made our time in this beautiful state a true memory that I will always cherish.”

Chuck Leavell during the filming of the Arkansas episodes
Chuck Leavell, host of “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell,” tours the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design’s Build Lab during the filming of the Arkansas episodes.

The Ozarks episode features interviews with Dean Peter MacKeith on the U of A campus; Joe Fox, Arkansas state forester, while floating the Buffalo National River from Ponca; Hardy Wentzel, CEO of Structurlam Mass Timber Corporation, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson at the first U.S. location of Structurlam in Conway; and Becca Ohman, garden director, at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs. While at Blanchard Springs Caverns, Leavell took advantage of the caverns’ unique acoustics to play mandolin with some local musicians.

The Delta episode features interviews with Kyle Miller, director of the Delta Cultural Center in Helena; Debbie Doss, founder of the Arkansas Watertrails Partnership, among the swamps of tupelo and bald cypress of Bayou DeView; Ross Whipple, landowner and conservationist, at Big Lake Hunting Club; and John Ed Anthony, chairman of the board, and Steven Anthony, president, of Anthony Timberlands, a family-owned company in Bearden. They also highlighted an ecosystem restoration project in the Ouachita National Forest to help recover the red-cockaded woodpecker. While at the Delta Cultural Center, Leavell played keyboard in a jam session with local blues musicians.  

The Anthony family has been in the timber business for five generations in south Arkansas. John Ed Anthony and his wife, Isabel, gave the lead $7.5 million gift for the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation, a new research and education facility in the design phase for the Fay Jones School.

“These episodes demonstrate the virtues and value of Arkansas’ forests to a larger national audience,” said Dean Peter MacKeith, “and they highlight the incredible work being done by so many across the state in forestry, conservation, stewardship, economic development and innovative action for the greater good. To work with Chuck Leavell and the production team was truly special and rewarding.”

“The support we received from so many different people and organizations made our two episodes really special,” said Bruce Ward, executive producer of America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell. “From government agencies to the timber industry to conservation organizations, individual donors and the University of Arkansas, we were welcomed and provided all the resources we needed to produce these amazing episodes.”

These Arkansas episodes of America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell were made possible by funding provided in part by the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture (Forestry Division), the Arkansas Department of Commerce, the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, the Arkansas Forestry Association (Education Division), STIHL, PotlatchDeltic, The Ross Foundation, Herren Hickingbotham, Chip Murphy, and Ross and Mary Whipple. They were produced in association with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service. 

URL: https://bit.ly/3vvRygR

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Exploring and Protecting the Arkansas Bayou

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Heavy rains seemed to wash away my plans for an Arkansas canoe trip, but Jeff Williams of Arkansas Wildlife magazine had another idea: Bayou DeView. This special place is not only an ideal place to explore by paddling, it also is the focus of extensive conservation efforts (and is rumored to hold one very famous bird).

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a bayou as a “marshy or sluggish body of water.” They are usually associated with Lousiana, but these watery ecosystems can be found throughout the Mississippi Delta and other southern Gulf Coast states from Texas to Florida.

The Louisiana French likely coined the word, bayou, from the Choctaw Indian word, bayuk, which means small stream. However, Bayou DeView, in Cache River National Wildlife Refuge and part of the Big Woods Delta, is not exactly small. A 15-mile water trail snakes through this cypress and tupelo lowland in Cache National Forest. In 2009, Bayou DeView became the focus of the conservation and birding communities when the supposedly extinct ivory-billed woodpecker was purportedly spotted there.

trees and water
DeView Bayou. Photo © Lisa Ballard

Though the existence of the ivory-billed woodpecker was never substantiated, it saved thousands of acres from development. It’s also part of a substantial area of focus for The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Arkansas.

“We have protected 30 million trees and seven miles of river,” says Ginny Porter, Communications Manager at TNC’s field office in Little Rock. “Bayou DeView is a pinpoint in a much larger project. We’re reforesting land that was cleared for agriculture, but floods too often for farming now. It’s great habitat for wildlife though, and the farmer gets money for land he can’t use any more.”

Part of the restoration effort has returned rivers in the region to their natural meandering channels, instead of straight irrigation canals, which provides critical wintering water for mallards and other waterfowl. It also conserves fish, deer and many other types of flora and fauna, some unique to a bayou habitat.

“Any alligators?” I asked Jeff as our group of six launched our kayaks at the Benson Creek put-in.

“Maybe,” he replied. “We’re at the northern end of their range.”

The thought of coming face to face with an alligator gave me pause, but I dug my paddle into the opaque, glassy water any way, gulping down my anxiety.

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A cottonmouth snake swims along the water’s surface. Photo © Lisa Ballard

I soon forgot about ‘gators as we headed into a maze of giant trees that grew from the water. In a bayou, water trails are like hiking trails but without an obvious trail to follow. Only small blue markers pointed the way. I could hear woodpeckers, tapping here and there as our kayaks headed deeper and deeper into the forest. I wondered if any of them might be the elusive ivory-billed one.

The trees towered above us like Gothic pillars. Green light tinged the muggy air, filtering down from the impenetrable canopy. A cacophony of songbirds serenaded us from unseen perches. The place felt prehistoric, like a pterodactyl might swoop down at any moment.

I spotted a fishing spider, the size of my hand, clinging to a tree trunk while hugging its prey to death. A few minutes later, a cottonmouth snake swam up to my boat.

trees and water
DeView Bayou. Photo © Lisa Ballard

After padding several miles in the flooded timber, we came to our turn-around point about three miles down the water trail. The trees gave way to pond-like Stab Lake, so named because it was long and narrow like a bayonet. After circumnavigating the small lake, we headed toward the blue diamond marking the way we had come from among the myriad of possibilities.

On the way back, we purposely veered slightly off the trail to check out a camping platform. The camping platforms scattered throughout the bayou and other parts of the delta were built with help from TNC. “Flatwater paddling through the delta is another unique reason we support this place,” says Porter, “We built the camping platforms a new way. They’re screened, so no mosquitos. It’s an opportunity to paddle and camp overnight in this landscape. Otherwise, you couldn’t sleep in it.”

Indeed not. There was not a speck of dry ground anywhere, only a few “cypress knees” that poked above the cloudy water around each of the huge, old trees. The knees helped buttress the trees in the soft, soaked, unseen substrate.

As our paddles swished rhythmically left and right on our return journey to the put-in, I marveled at my surroundings. What a unique place to kayak! “At places like Bayou DeView, we’re using recreation as a way to talk about conservation,” said Porter, “We want people to get to know nature.”

URL: https://bit.ly/3xfwf2v

Chuck-Leavall

New show will highlight Arkansas forests and culture

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Arkansas will be featured on an upcoming episode of “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell.” The show captures the diversity of our nation’s woodlands – both public and private, featuring different stories that demonstrate how vital forest habitats are to the well-being and economic health of communities across the country. In this series, audiences will see individuals who embody this passion for the woods, from architects to artists, from climbers to carpenters.

The show celebrates America’s forests and advocates for their constructive management, while also exploring cultural themes related to timber and forests in each state. They have also developed a communications campaign centered on a broadcast television documentary series for PBS and multi-faceted social media outreach.

Leavell and his team visited the different types of forests and unique forestry-related attractions in Arkansas. Leavell’s Arkansas experience included: visiting the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture, floating the Buffalo River, meeting local wood craftsman and musicians, touring the first U.S. location of Structurlam in Conway, Arkansas where Governor Hutchinson was also in attendance, visiting the Big Lake Hunting Club, immersing himself in Arkansas timber production, and visiting the Delta Cultural Center. While the date is still to be determined, the Arkansas episode will premier sometime this fall. To learn more about “America’s Forests with Chuck Leavell” visit the website.

URL: https://bit.ly/3z8iSm4