Some might call the Janet Huckabee Nature Center a hidden gem. You can’t even see it from the parking lot.
The 14,000-square-foot facility is tucked away near Fort Chaffee Crossing on the shores of Wells Lake. It is surrounded by 170 acres of forests featuring hiking trails, a playground, and spots for wildlife viewing.
Karen Westcamp Johnson manages the Nature Center. She’s been on staff there since 2005 before the center had a physical space.
“What they wanted to do was to get most of the staff hired on before we opened to help with the planning and building,” Westcamp-Johnson said. And, yeah, I was one of the original educators. My job at the time was programming, for sure, but I also was in charge of all the exhibits back then.”
Those exhibits that Karen helped create still educate visitors to this day. They include a 1,700-gallon aquarium housing fish native to the Arkansas River, a life-size scale model of an Oak tree and complementary oak-savannah habitat, and an interactive classroom with touchable features for young children.
Karen said that while most of the exhibits still function, some, especially technological exhibits, have become obsolete. She said the birding section of the center is a good example of how outdated– and broken– their technology has become.
“So it used to be cool things back in 2005 and 2010 that you could learn about, like an aquatic plant and animal eater, and you punch a button, and it shows up. All that's broke,” Westcamp-Johnson said. “So now we have the screen where we just rotate pictures. But it used to be like you've learned which one was which type of eater. Or over here, it was actually a video about how birds fly. Okay. And this over here was, like, a lot of species ID. Now we just had to put in a little iPad we manually made to do it because all those cool features are obsolete.”
Nature center exhibits have a projected lifespan of 10 years before they need updates due to new scientific findings and improving tech. Judging by that metric, the Janet Huckabee Nature Center’s exhibits are almost 7 years overdue for renovation.
Thankfully, Karen said renewal is inbound. In March 2023, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission announced a fundraising campaign to help expand the center. The “ReImagining the River Valley” campaign recently received a $500,000 donation from the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority. Talk Business and Politics reported that the FCRA’s contribution brought the campaign halfway to its $3 million goal.
The updates will not only maintain the exhibits’ working conditions but also reimagine how guests interact with them. Karen said she is excited to bring new life to one of the center’s most beloved attractions.
“This is super popular,” Westcamp-Johnson said. “Okay, so this is a fake fishing pond.”
The fake fishing pond is a large container painted and accessorized with lakey features. A few bamboo poles– equipped with magnets rather than hooks– rest on the pond’s edge. Below, wait stuffed fish, another magnet inside their mouths.
“They once had a little RFID chip reader that you carried over here, and you measured it. And it would be, ‘Congratulations. You've caught 24-inch rainbow trout.’ Rainbow trout, you know, you can actually keep in our way, or it will give you that information. That's really cool. Kids love this.”
The new exhibit will refurbish the fish, poles and RFID chips. It will also add elements for older visitors thanks to a sponsorship from outdoor brand PRADCO.
“It's going to have the little reader connected to it here where you don't have to turn around,” Westcamp-Johnson said. “The kids can still weigh the fish and measure the fish. Then we're going to have beside it something more adult-oriented, which will be where they match up learners to the type of fish they want to catch, and kids could do it too. But the idea is, like, $75,000 of our money came from PRADCO, which they do lures. And we want to kind of tie into that. They do a ton of stuff for us. They come out here a couple of times a year and do a lake cleanup. They do a big fishing derby with the kids once a year. And so it's a really cool relationship or partnership to have with them. And I like the way the exhibit company is looking at it right now, because they are literally looking at it almost like a game where they have this little lure. And you know, you pick through this series efficiently, ‘Hey, I want to catch a bass. Okay, so which lure will be the best to use?’ And then, if you pick the right one, it's gonna tell you why. And if you pick the wrong one, you figure out what was wrong.”
Karen said the campaign will fund renovations of the center’s building and exhibits and provide more outreach opportunities.
“We want people to come to our centers, don't misunderstand that,” she said. “Like we're spending a lot of money, obviously, to get the place renovated and reimagined. It's a place here where the community is excited, and we want them to come. But we also understand that not everybody can come to this spot. And we want everybody to understand what Game and Fish does, to be able to hunt safely, bike, hike, you know, boat, all those kinds of things. We want outdoor recreation to be enjoyable and safe and for people to know about it.”
She said that the nature center’s renovation will happen during a dire time for some outdoor recreation activities like hunting.
“You think of something like hunting,” she said. “That's an outdoor recreation thing. And nowadays, license sales are down. You know, there are a lot fewer people who physically go hunting. Instead, they're stuck inside playing video games or watching TV.”
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission oversees hunting license sales, which have been in flux throughout recent years. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sales picked back up in 2024 after hitting a multi-decade low in 2020. Karen said that she became an outdoor educator to provide everybody an opportunity to enjoy something outside and develop a passion for it.
“I was lucky enough to grow up in the middle of nowhere on a dead-end road where I was outside every day,” Westcamp-Johnson said. “And we get kids who come out here who are scared to walk on a paved trail because they've never been in the woods, you know. And so, to me, that's the ultimate goal in whatever form it takes. Whether it's hiking, you know, camping, hunting, or fishing, I want people to have the confidence and the knowledge to go outside and do those things. And that's the kind of program that we provide.”
The “Reimagining the River Valley” Campaign is halfway to its $3 million goal. Karen said the best way to contribute is through the Game and Fish Foundation.
“One of the reasons that we obviously need sponsorships or other people involved is that everything we do is free,” she said. “So there's no fee, we're not a business, we're not making money, and everything we do here is free. And what I always tell people is, basically, your tax dollars have already paid for it. So you know, without that money coming in, we have to come up with those funds elsewhere. And that's what the foundation fundraising is for: To come up with the money elsewhere so that we can have some new things for people to keep coming back and enjoying.”
More information about the Janet Huckabee River Valley Nature Center and the Game and Fish Foundation.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline by reporters. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of KUAF programming is the audio record.
