Hunting Archery Duck Deer

Arkansas’ Big Woods and hopes for the future The rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker has most assuredly put Arkansas on the “birding map.” Major newspapers across the nation, including the New York Times, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune, have run lengthy stories on the ivory-billed woodpecker and Arkansas. National Public Radio has run several stories, and NBC Nightly News recently aired a piece on the woodpecker and the impact its rediscovery had already had on local communities. Producers from 60 Minutes have visited the area and are working on a story that should debut this fall. In the four weeks following the April 28 announcement, 650 news stories about the rediscovery appeared in more than 300 newspaper, magazine, television and radio outlets around the world.

Additionally, Arkansas certainly enjoys its share of the national duck-hunting pie. According to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife survey, an estimated 3 million individuals hunted migratory waterfowl in 2001. And it’s evident that much of the $1,581 the average hunter spends each year ends up in Arkansas. At Stuttgart, “The Duck Hunting Capital of the World,” the chamber of commerce estimates duck hunters have a $1 million per day impact on the local community. And that’s just one community in Arkansas.

The same UWFWS survey revealed there were some 18 million (nonresidential or traveling) birdwatchers in 2001 and that wildlife watchers as a whole spent approximately $33.7 million in total expenditures. Total expenditures among all hunters were approximately $23.3 million during the same year. The report also shows that while hunting and fishing expenditures decreased 7 percent over the previous five years, expenditures among wildlife watchers increased 5 percent.

Granted, Arkansas is considered one of the (if not the) best duck hunting destinations in the U.S. much because it’s home to the largest population of wintering mallard ducks in the world. And it’s also known as one of the best destinations because hunters have heard and read about it. Birders have now heard and read about the ivory-billed woodpecker, and they now know the area is also home to 265 other species of birds, including migrating neotropical songbirds. And many have now heard or read that the Big Woods of Arkansas have been designated by the Audubon Society as “important birding area.”

So Arkansas is home to what is probably the rarest bird in the world, and this fact has brought immediate worldwide news coverage and attention. And we have in the Big Woods a vast and beautiful area that affords literally hundreds of other bird or wildlife watching opportunities. The question is, how will we manage this economic opportunity while never losing sight of what’s most important – the continued survival and recovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker?

Yes, it will take time, most likely years, before the amount of money birders spend in east Arkansas equals the amount spent by hunters. The good news is that bird watching and hunting are compatible activities, and the Delta of Arkansas stands to benefit mightily from both. The potential is there, and some fast-acting businesses have already realized this truth.

For example, a company called Little Rock Tours put together a four-day itinerary designed to attract birders to Arkansas. The tours, which will debut in December, include two nights at DeGray Lake Resort State Park in Bismarck, where birders will get chances to spot wintering bald eagles, and two nights at Mallard Pointe Lodge and Reserve near Brinkley. Gina Martin, who co-owns Little Rock Tours, said they’ve booked 10 weeks between December 2005 and March 2006 at both lodging establishments. Martin said they’ve already had several bookings, although the company “hasn’t even tapped into the marketing aspects yet.” They have a full-page advertisement scheduled to appear in the next issue of Birding Magazine, and they are working with a high-profile birder who says “he can book 1,000 spots with ease.”

The 2,800 acres owned by Mallard Pointe Lodge is adjacent to the Dagmar Wildlife Management Area on the Bayou DeView and very near where the ivory-billed woodpecker has been spotted. Managers at the lodge say they feel confident the rooms will fill. Martin pointed out that those on the tours will also patronize area restaurants and shops. The tour will also feature stops at the Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff and the White River National Wildlife Refuge. Similarly, Wildlife Farms in Casscoe is gearing up to accommodate birders as well as hunters and fishers.

The benefits that Little Rock Tours, Mallard Point Lodge and Wildlife Farms see, and dozens of existing or new businesses like those, could represent the tip of the iceberg. Consider what birding does for the economy in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley. According to the McAllen Chamber of Commerce Web site: 125,000 visitors come to the area every year to bird, and that figure is expected to reach 200,000 by 2006; birders in the area have a $125 million impact on the local economy each year, and that figure is expected to double by 2006; the birding industry there is responsible for 2,000 local jobs, and it is estimated that each rare bird species is responsible for $100,000 in local spending each year. And, once again, it’s relatively safe to say that Arkansas now has the rarest bird species.

Arkansas Delta and Grand Prairie communities have a big reason to take a closer look at tourism centered on the amazing forested ecosystem. Clarendon took notice and on May 21 the city celebrated its fourth annual Big Woods Birding Festival. An estimated 2,000 people attended the festival, more than doubling the population of the town for the day, and the festival was covered by media from around the country. Even before the ivory-bill created a buzz among birders, Billy Hasty, city clerk for Clarendon, says tourism dollars have “dramatically increased.”

Support will come to Arkansas from many sources. For example, a $200,000 grant was received by the Delta Byways Regional Tourism Association earlier this year from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The funds will be used to promote tourism in the 13 counties that belong to the association. Since the rediscovery of the ivory-bill, Arkansas Parks and Tourism is now accelerating efforts to help Delta communities and working closely with the Big Woods Conservation Partnership to determine ways to promote nature tourism without a negative impact on the ivory-bill or its habitat.

The focus on tourism, though, might cause some to say there is a risk of “loving the bird to death.” The Big Woods of Arkansas are vast, covering some 550,000 acres, and currently support each year thousands of duck hunters and fishers, whose love of the land is much the reason the land has been conserved. The ivory-billed woodpecker has survived alongside these hunters for decades, and now the woods it needs to survive have a new friend in conservation – the birders that will come because of the ivory-bill, and whether or not the see it, they’ll leave with a deep reverence for the Big Woods.

All Arkansans can take much deserved and well-earned pride in the quality of the wild lands of The Natural State, evidenced by the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker. The fact that the rediscovery can also bring economic and conservation rewards is indeed great news. Both public and private investment in the Big Woods will undoubtedly create financial leverage and job opportunities for Delta citizens. Certainly the investment in duck habitat, including $37 million in Migratory Bird funds over the last few years, have been returned to the citizens many times over. The Nature Conservancy and many other partners are committed to this outcome. A healthy economy and a healthy environment are mutually achievable.

The Natural State (with places such as Big Woods) is the legacy our generation will leave our children and grandchildren. Our generation is the one that has invested in the future of the state and in the future of the many species that need the forests of the Delta to survive. Arkansans can be proud of their state, proud of its majestic beauty and proud that together we have saved one of the last great places on earth
By Scott Simon, Director, The Nature Conservancy of Arkansas