Park Day highlights landscape preservation efforts

In 2014, the staff of Pea Ridge National Military Park completed a major cultural landscape survey, which included an environmental assessment. The report also included management plans for historic features, modern structures and the vegetation, explained Kevin Eads, park superintendent.

That work will be highlighted May 20 during Park Day.

The park includes two distinct landscape types — woodland and prairie, said Nolan Moore, integrated resources program manager for the park. And staff consider how those landscapes affected the battle.

In the first part of the master plan, staff and volunteers have worked to clear nonnative cedar trees. Work will continue this summer.

“Removing cedars was an important part of our vegetation management plan,” Eads said.

Park staff also used controlled burning to remove fescue grass from nearly 1,000 acres of the fields.

Another important part of the plan was to increase habitat for the bobwhite quail and other wildlife, Moore said. Quail dwell in grassland and open woodland areas, he said. The park partnered with the Benton County Quail organization in April, and the organization donated $4,500 for these projects.

Park Day will feature four different guest speakers in the visitors center. Eads will speak at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. about the park’s historical landscape. Don McKenzie, director of the National Bobwhite Conservation Initiative, speaks on the state of the quail in the southern part of the United States at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Marcus Asher, the state quail expert for Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, details plans for the quail program at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. And Phillip Stephenson, a park employee, speaks on pollinators at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

At five stations throughout the park, private land biologists will demonstrate seed drilling for germination, bobwhite habitat needs, field and grass management, woodland management and cedar removal.

“They will help the landowners see what we have done and hear the benefits,” Moore said.

A bird dog will run through his paces in a demonstration at 9 a.m. along Patton Road, and Benton County Quail will grill and serve hamburgers, as long as they last, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Visitor fees will not be charged on Park Day.