Wanderings And Ponderings

We often say we are managing our natural resources sustainably, but what if, in doing so, we are slowly losing the very things we claim to protect? In The Trees Are Speaking, Lynda Mapes describes forests that have been clear cut and carefully replanted, landscapes that, on paper, are restored. Trees return. The forest grows back. But what existed before is not truly recovered. Even with careful replanting, what was taken cannot be fully replaced. Old growth, shaped over centuries, is gone. The depth of nutrients built into the soil, the complexity of habitats, the relationships between species, these are not things that can simply be recreated. What comes back may function, but it is not the same. And in many cases, what was lost will not be seen again within our lifetimes. What looks like recovery is, in reality, replacement. A new forest stands where another once existed, but it carries a different structure, a different rhythm, a different capacity to support life. Time itself ...

Walking the Shoreline of Lake Superior in Duluth, Minnesota Last week, I had the opportunity to travel to Duluth, Minnesota to present at the 2026 National Outdoor Recreation Conference hosted by the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals (SORP). The conference brought together outdoor recreation professionals, researchers, educators, planners, and public land managers from across North America to discuss the future of parks, recreation, tourism, conservation, and public lands. I was honored to lead a panel discussion focused on the future of higher education and workforce preparation in outdoor recreation alongside Dr. Melissa Schnuck Weddell, Dr. Will Rice, and Kathryn Wrigley. I was also invited to participate in a second panel discussion examining the future of state parks systems across North America with Seth Taft (Wisconsin State Parks), Laura Preus (Minnesota State Parks), and Dan Roddy (Arizona State Parks). It was an incredible opportunity to represent Arkansas Tech Univ...

  What We’re Building When We Build Trails I recently read, a study of the Trans Canada Trail that lays out, in clear terms, one of the largest outdoor recreation efforts ever undertaken. The trail now stretches more than 27,000 kilometers, connecting nearly 1,000 municipalities and over 15,000 communities across Canada. What makes it notable is not just the distance, but the intent behind it. From the beginning, it was framed as a way to bring people into closer contact with the land and with each other, to create something that could be used every day but also carry a larger meaning. The project began in 1992 as a national legacy effort, with a goal of linking existing trails into a single system that would span the country. Over time, that vision took shape through a mix of local initiative and broader coordination. What exists now is not a single trail in the traditional sense, but a network made up of hundreds of segments. Some pass-through cities on paved paths. Others mo...

I recently read and reviewed the article by Kesling (2025), and it prompted a great deal of reflection. It raised questions that reach across several parts of life, including professional work in outdoor recreation, experiences in higher education, and personal time spent enjoying the outdoors. This piece is not a scientific study or formal analysis. It is a perspective shaped by engagement with the article and by experience in the field. The goal is to think through what the article suggests and what it might mean in practice. The essay begins with a review of the article itself, written from a third person perspective and focused on its key ideas and professional implications. It then shifts to a more reflective discussion of how those ideas may apply today, with particular attention to Arkansas and the growing emphasis on outdoor recreation as a driver of economic development. Review of the Article and Its Implications The article examines the ecological effects of outdoor rec...

Crowley’s Ridge State Park sits on a geologic formation that has shaped both the landscape and the human story of northeast Arkansas for centuries. The ridge itself rises unexpectedly from the surrounding Delta, a long, narrow band of loess soil that likely formed from windblown sediments during the last ice age. Long before the park existed, Indigenous communities used the ridge for travel and settlement, drawn to its elevation, hardwood forests, and relative dryness in a region otherwise defined by floodplains. By the early twentieth century, the ridge had also become a place of recreation and retreat for nearby towns such as Paragould. The formal creation of the park, however, came during one of the most consequential periods in American public land development, the era of the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1933, as part of the New Deal response to the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps arrived at what would become Crowley's Ridge State Park . Over the next seve...

Outdoor recreation continues to grow in popularity, yet the question remains: what actually leads people to care for the places they visit? This study explores that question by examining how environmental attitudes, social marketing, and personal motivation shape environmentally responsible behavior. Using data from visitors to national parks in Vietnam, the research shows that people who value the environment are more likely to act in ways that protect it. That part feels intuitive. What stands out is how behavior is not driven by attitudes alone. The study highlights motivation as the key link between what people believe and what they do. People may care about the environment, but that concern only translates into action when it connects to a meaningful reason to be outdoors. Motivation to experience nature, learn, or simply spend time outside becomes the bridge between intention and behavior. Social marketing plays a role as well, though not in a direct way. Messages shared throug...

February has a way of slowing things down. The crowds thin out, the air feels softer, and places reveal themselves in a more honest way. That is exactly what I found on a recent trip through Louisiana, where I spent time at Chemin-A-Haut State Park, Poverty Point State Park, and Palmetto Island State Park. Each stop offered something different. One felt still and quiet, one carried the weight of its history, and one wrapped me in the thick air of the Louisiana landscape. Chemin-A-Haut State Park Tucked into the hills of north Louisiana, Chemin-A-Haut feels like a place that does not need to prove anything. The park sits along Bayou Bartholomew, one of the longest bayous in the country, and the landscape carries a mix of hardwood forest and gentle slopes that you do not always expect in this part of the state. The park itself has roots that stretch back to the 1930s, when the Civilian Conservation Corps helped shape many of the original structures. There is a sense of that history s...