AGFC, United Way Day of Caring provide years of benefit for Northeast Arkansas 

JONESBORO — Twenty-five volunteers pitched in to prepare the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center for fall visitors during the United Way’s Day of Caring Sept. 25.

Cody Walker, facility director, said volunteers from the city of Jonesboro, Empower Internet and Unico Bank all worked from 9 a.m.-noon last Thursday to freshen up the center’s landscaping and refurbish decoys that will be used in future education efforts in northeast Arkansas.

“We have a robust volunteer program here at the center and we depend on volunteers like these to really make a difference in northeast Arkansas,” Walker said. “We have 79 active volunteers who do a variety of activities from litter cleanups to assisting with hunter education, boating education and other outdoors-themed classes. This effort brought on 25 additional people to tackle a few extra projects that people will benefit from for the next year.”

Walker says one group of volunteers during the event focused on updating the landscaping around the center.

“They planted flowers and cleaned up some of the native plant beds to give the high-traffic areas on our grounds a fall facelift,” Walker said. “Updates like this really help draw people into the center, but they take a lot of upkeep, so we’re thankful to have the extra hands to make this happen.”

The other group of volunteers worked to clean, patch and paint decoys donated to the center through the AGFC’s Decoy Adoption Program. Each year, the AGFC collects used duck decoys from hunters who are refreshing their spreads and uses them in various education programs promoting waterfowl watching and waterfowl hunting.

“The decoys that are in good shape go into a program where new hunters can request a dozen for free to help them get started hunting,” Walker said. “But we also have some great uses for the ones that are in rough condition. We clean and prepare those to be painted in classes on waterfowl identification and watchable wildlife. Attendees of those classes can learn all the different color schemes of the various ducks we have in Arkansas and paint their own decoy to take home. We also go to art classes in local schools, teach about the plumage on various species, and leave the decoys with the teacher to continue conservation lessons in their art classes.”

But before the decoys can be used to educate the next generation of conservationists, they have to be prepared. Staff members at the center seal any holes, scrub any mud or debris from them, and give them a coat of primer so students will have a fresh canvas to paint.

“It’s pretty time-consuming work; one staff member may only be able to complete 25 decoys in a morning,” Walker said. “During the United Way event, volunteers prepped 614 decoys. For the next year or so, we should be able to just grab some prepared decoys and go.”

Walker says people interested in donating old decoys can reach out to Eric Maynard, AGFC assistant chief of education. They can also contact the nature center if they want to drop some off for future classes.

“Eric heads up the program, so he’s always the first point of contact for it, but if you’re just wanting to drop by the nature center with a few old decoys that could go to a good cause, we’ll always be happy to take them in,” Walker said. “Eric is also the person to reach to get some of the lightly used decoys for new hunters.

“As for us at the nature center, we’re always looking for new volunteers and creative ways to use volunteer effort to educate folks here in northeast Arkansas. With as much outreach as we perform, we’re more than happy to accept help from any adult, teen or college-aged student who wants to make a difference in conservation at a local level.

Visit www.agfc.com/crowleysridge for more information on Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center and opportunities to volunteer. For more information on the AGFC’s decoy adoption center, contact Maynard at eric.maynard@agfc.ar.gov.

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CUTLINES:

THREE VOLUNTEERS
The United Way’s Day of Caring event in Jonesboro led to hundreds of hours of community service through volunteers. AGFC photo.  

LANDSCAPING
One group of volunteers focused on planting flowers and maintaining native plant beds at Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center. AGFC photo.

DECOYS AND BUILDING
Volunteers cleaned more than 600 decoys for future art students to paint. AGFC photo.

DECOYS ON HILL
The AGFC’s Decoy Adoption Program continues to repurpose old waterfowl-hunting decoys for future hunters and conservationists. AGFC photo.