Ozarks at Large Photo Archive

--Kyle, Jacquie and Bryan, your Ozark correspondents

THIS WEEK ON OZARKS AT LARGE:
We investigate why the legendary healing springs of Eureka Springs cured visitors who traveled to take the waters circa 1890.
Today the springs are polluted, but local activist, Barbara Harmony, pictured below with her rooster, KoKo da, are intent on cleaning them up. She says one solution is to not use water as a waste vehicle. She prefers compost toilets, and even compost outhouses, pictured to her right, a two-seater.

LAST WEEK ON OZARKS AT LARGE:
The Bartell sisters from Carroll County, visit our studios and perform both classical and contemporary music. We also visit with these clever and beautiful young women, to learn their muse and about their futures.

PREVIOUSLY ON OZARKS AT LARGE:
We return to the Woolsey Wet Prairie Sanctuary adjacent to Fayetteville's new west side sewage treatment facility to check on construction progress. Consulting ecologist, Bruce Shackleford provides a tour.

We flushed Snipe, a shorebird, while hiking along a berm and saw flocks of Lesser Yellow Legs, above.
-- photos courtesy Bruce Shackleford

ALSO PREVIOUSLY ON OZARKS AT LARGE:
In the first of a two-part series on the ancient springs of Eureka Springs, we visit a local gardener who is landscaping many of the spring reservations in the village. We also visit a "wild" spring with Christopher Fisher, a member of the Eureka Springs Parks and Recreation Commission's Springs Committee. The group is working to restore the springs to their original pristine nature.

Christopher Fisher at Cardinal Spring

Springs gardener, Don E Allen at Harding Spring

Grotto Spring Reservation entrance

OTHER OZARKS AT LARGE:
We all know about "Physicianns Without Borders," right? Well, members from a local veterinary clinic, in Berryville, Arkansas, decided to start their own "Veterinarians Without Borders" project, the first of it's kind in the United States.

Above, Berryville Veterinary Clinic's, Dr. Tina Cone, on the far right. led the expedition to rural Belize, and was assisted by medical staff members, Debbie Weiland (in flowered smock, holding Annie the dog) and Ramona Hambrick, in violet. They were assisted by a local Garifuna resident, Raju, center, and Steven Nunn, on the far left.

Below Dr. Cone performs surgery in their makeshift clinic.

TO MAKE A DONATION, WRITE TO DR. TINA CONE AT 421 BALD EAGLE ROAD, BERRYVILLE, AR 72616.

OTHER OZARKS AT LARGE: We attend a seven-year reunion of a special public radio project, "Sound Partners for Community Health" funded by the Robert Wood Johnson and Benton Foundations. Back in 2000, KUAF partnered with the Art Experience in Fayetteville, where artist and psychotherapist JoAnn Kaminsky, along with art therapist, Dawn Graham, created "Fearless Art, Fearless Choices." The outreach program matched radical high school teenagers with at-risk eleven-year-old kids in an artmaking group process environment. We learn how the program impacted their lives, long term.

Jo Ann Kaminksy (center) asks mentors and their partners, now all young adults, about their "Fearless Art" experience.

PAST OZARKS AT LARGE: We examine the latest trend in cell phone tower construction: stealth towers.

This faux "monopine" cell tower stands near the intersection of Old Wire Road and Hwy. 265 in Fayetteville.

Here's a close look at the cell tower. Wonder what the birds think???

To listen, click here:

OTHER OZARKS: We hang out with "Broad Daylight" a seven-woman acapella singing ensemble from Fayetteville.

From left to right: Nancy Harris, Leslie Oelsner, Myra Holliman, Suzanne Oliver, Joy Fox, Dorothy Marcy, and Judith Matthews.

To listen click here

OTHER OZARKS AT LARGE: Commentator Jim Orr, director of Witter Wildlife Refuge, recounts his efforts rescuing an injured coyote.

To learn more or to make a donation: witterwildliferefuge.com

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

MORE OZARKS AT LARGE: Chesney Praire in Benton County is the site of novel experiment. Land Stewart, Joe Woolbright, along with the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission have successfully transplanted native prairie sod, the second successful attempt to do so in Arkansas as well as in the United States. Below Jacqueline Froelich interviews Joe in the native tallgrass prairie.

photo courtesy Joe Neal

TO LISTEN CLICK HERE.

PREVIOUSLY ON OZARKS AT LARGE: We attend a celebration marking the commencement of a new literacy program in the Marshallese community which uses islander culture as a hook to interest young children in reading.

Below are two children who learned some early reading skills using culturally inspired materials.

PREVIOUSLY ON OZARKS AT LARGE: We visit a medieval-style estate north of Eureka Springs called the "Castle at Rogues Manor. "

Below is a photo of the guest cottage, now completed. It, the great house, and other buildings are designed and constructed with native wood and stone by Smith Treuer and his wife Debbie Sederstrom, proprietors of Rogue's Manor in downtown Eureka Springs.

To tour the castle and hear nesting eagles, click here.

Also, our Bird Man Joe Neal takes us deep into the Ouchitas to visit eagle nestlings.

photo by Joe Neal

OTHER OZARKS AT LARGE: Bee hives across America are collapsing, literally, because the worker bees are flying off to forage and getting lost. This week, we look at how the syndrome, called "Colony Collapse Disorder," is affecting the state bee industry and home beekeepers.

Reporter, Jacqueline Froelich, on left, interviews Dr. Donald Steinkraus, a University of Arkansas entomologist at a bee hive the school keeps on campus.

An example of a healthy hive. Note the frame filled with fresh honeycomb and worker bees.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.

ALSO ON OZARKS AT LARGE: Eastern Elk once roamed the Arkansas Highlands, before they were hunted into extinction circa 1830.
   Then in the 1990s the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, along with some private citizens, successfully introduced a new herd of Rocky Mountain Elk to the Buffalo National River area.
   Today over 400 elk feed on lush river bottom pastures---and on nearby Ozark row and hay crops. Searcy and Newton county farmers are furious. They complain wildlife experts have done little to fix the problem.
   Below is a herd of Rocky Mountain Elk--an alpha bull surrounded by cows--grazing near Ponca in Newton County.

photo courtesy Joe Neal

To Listen Click Here.

ALSO ON OZARKS AT LARGE: A local company, Asia Development Management Group, buys and sells traditional Tibetan hand-knotted rugs at more than fair market value--ADMG also helps to build schools and provide health care to carpet weavers and their families in historic Tibet.

Below, ADMG sales director, Melody Murray, on a trip last summer to Xining, China, observes traditional weavers at work.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.