Master Naturalists operate in Bella Vista
Bella Vista resident and master naturalist Cheryl Hall drove up to the sewage treatment plant and walked along a lagoon with her white-furred dog, Tanner, tagging along as she waited for bluebirds to fly away from their wooden abode.
A small community of Master Naturalists has cropped up here in Bella Vista, many of them eager to work on projects and promote preservation of nature in the area.
Anita Davis, head of the Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalist chapter, said that several Bella Vistans are part of this year’s class, which had 72 graduates. Graduation, she said, requires 40 hours of classroom education and eight hours of volunteer work. An additional eight hours of training is required for certification, she said, and eight hours are required annually to keep that certification.
Topics include botany, geology, tree identification, entomology, herpetology, among others, she said.
People interested in signing up for next year’s class, she said, can get the application from the organization’s website at www.home.arkansasmasternaturalists.org. The link for the Northwest Arkansas section of the site can be found on the lefthand side of the page.
The course costs $165, according to the website. Master Naturalists pay annual dues of $30.
The purpose of the Master Naturalist program, she said, is to develop a number of knowledgeable volunteers who can provide education and outreach to help better manage natural resources and areas in their communities.
“There’s no one way to be a Master Naturalist,” she said. “Once they graduate they follow their passions.”
Graduates, she said, may have their own areas of interest and expertise, and they can pursue projects in those areas.
One of these projects is a handful of bird homes, including two bluebird houses, near the treatment facility. These boxes, Hall said, were put up in April. She checks them regularly to make sure they’re providing good homes and the birds residing in them are doing well.
“There’s kind of a method to checking the box,” she said. “You don’t want to disturb the momma.”
She walked past the birdhouse, going about 10 yards, before turning and walking back to it and lightly tapping on the side to make sure no one was home.
A side panel on the compact birdhouse lifted up and she stuck her phone in to get pictures at an angle her eyes couldn’t possibly make. She was able to confirm a trio of light blue bluebird eggs.
It’s a good sight, she said. Sometimes these boxes become occupied by different birds than they were designed for, she said, like the starlings nesting in a wood duck house a stone’s throw away.
While this is only one of the projects the Master Naturalists have set up, she said, nobody intends for that to be the case for long.
“We’re just kind of getting started with our projects,” she said.
Master Naturalist Gracie Turley said the naturalists are looking into numerous short- and long-term projects, including helping with Morning Star Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Gravette — which has some construction needs — as well as pitching in for July, which is designated as lake cleanup month. The naturalists are considering a booth to help educate children at the farmers market.
Additionally, she said, there has been some discussion of sprucing up the final mile of the Razorback Greenway, which runs alongside Lake Bella Vista.
“There’s an opportunity to put in native plants,” Turley said. “But that’s a longer-term project.”
Signing up to become a Master Naturalist, she said, made sense for her. Her parents spent a lot of time outdoors, she said, and she’s inclined to do the same.
“We just grew up being outdoors and learning about plants and animals,” she said. “I’ve always been a backpacker and skier and scuba diver.”
After moving here from Squim, Wash., a small city on the Olympic peninsula, she said, the Master Naturalist course looked like a good opportunity to learn more about the local flora and fauna, and she’s happy with the choice.
“It’s extraordinary,” Turley said.