Page 10 - RVO-TR-GreersFerryLake2020

10VV SUNDAY, JUNE 21, 2020 ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE THREE RIVERS EDITION/RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE • LIFE ON GREERS FERRY LAKE
FREQUENT FLYERS
MEET
YOUR NEIGHBOR
Anthony Harmon
of Heber Springs
DIRECTOR OF BANDS FOR THE HEBER SPRINGS SCHOOL DISTRICT
HOW LONG HAVE YOU LIVED IN HEBER SPRINGS?
My family moved to Heber Springs in 2000 while I was in high school. I took a short hiatus to attend college and get married, and my wife and I moved back in 2014.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB?
My favorite part of teaching is the students. I love interacting with them and molding them into pro- ductive citizens.
WHAT IS THE MOST CHALLENGING THING ABOUT YOUR JOB?
Balancing the needs of the ensemble with the needs of the individual student. It is very easy to sim- ply pretend that music is the only activity in the world and that trophies are the only things that matter. I could just teach by rote and have a bunch of students who can do one thing very well. Honestly, that just isn’t good for them. Students have to be able to understand style, history and theory so they can learn about music deeply. In addition, music isn’t the only activity that helps students become productive citizens, so I need to support not only their musical growth, but their other passions and activities as well.
WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT FIRST-TIME VISITORS TO GREERS FERRY LAKE SHOULD DEFINITELY EXPLORE?
There are a ton of outdoor trails and activities to experience in the area. From climbing Sugarloaf Mountain to disc golfing, to fishing on the Little Red River, there is something for everybody. We have a growing cycling community here in Heber Springs, both on-road and off-road. We have new bike trails all the time, and they are being built with the help of Sulphur Creek Outfitters, the local outdoor shop.
Snow birds flock
to lake for winter
BY CODY GRAVES / CREATIVE SERVICES WRITER
In the heart of Cleburne County lies Magness Lake, a 25-acre oxbow lake that was formed over time by a change in the course of the Little Red River.
For the past 20 years, this secluded sanctu- ary has become a haven for a group of trum- peter swans, a species of swan that is native to North America but is rarely seen south of Missouri. Each winter, about 150 trumpeter swans descend on Magness Lake to take ref- uge from the harsh winters of the northern areas of the United States and Canada.
“It’s kind of a phenomenon that they are this far south,” said Ginger Harper, president and CEO of the Heber Springs Area Cham- ber of Commerce. “No one knows why they chose that spot, but it’s such a popular attrac- tion now for our town, and everyone loves to come see them.”
Margaret Smith, executive director of e Trumpeter Swan Society, an organization dedicated to assuring the vitality and welfare of wild trumpeter swans, said the common theory of how the Magness Lake swans came to the area is that it was an accident. It is
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Trumpeter swans swim on Magness Lake near Heber Springs. The swans fly south from the northern areas of the United States and Canada during the winter months.
believed that the birds were knocked off course by a storm in the early 1990s and somehow found their way to the Heber Springs area.
Smith said swans in the Midwest of the Unit- ed States had been hunted nearly to extinction by the late 1800s. en in the 1960s, conserva- tionists and zoos reintroduced the birds to the area, but the swans didn’t have their own migra- tion traditions, which would have been passed down through the generations. As the three or four swans that found Magness Lake had off- spring and kept returning to the lake, the group has grown to about 150 animals.
“Arkansas’ swans are from swans pioneer- ing into the area from restoration programs in the North,” Smith said. “We receive reports of swans in Texas, Oklahoma and sometimes Kentucky and Tennessee, for example, but the significant and consistent number of swans in the Heber Springs area so much far- ther to the south is unique.”
Trumpeter swans are one of North Ameri- ca’s heaviest flying birds, and males can weigh, on average, about 26 pounds. e species has bright white plumage and a black beak. Juve- nile trumpeter swans can have brown color- ation in their feathers and heads, along with some pink coloration on their beaks.
To get to Magness Lake from Heber Springs, drive east on Arkansas 110 from its intersection with Arkansas 5 to the Sover- eign Grace Baptist Church. Turn left on Hays Road, and the lake is about a half mile down the road. Magness Lake is private property, but there is public parking available in an “S” curve in the road.
Harper said the best viewing times are mi- dafternoon to dusk, which is when the swans are actually on the lake. Earlier in the day, the birds will be off looking for food. Swans should only be fed clean shelled corn. Do not feed the swans bread because the swans may choke on it. Dogs should be left in the car, as the swans can become too familiar with the animals and become more vulnerable to coyote attacks.
“I’ve been out there to see [the swans], and I’ve taken my children out to see them, and they’re beautiful,” Harper said. “It’s just something you don’t see every day, so it’s very unique to our community, and it brings a lot of people in just to see the swans.”
ON THE MAP
Organization seeks donations to help track trumpeter swans
Each winter, a group of trumpeter swans takes up residence around Magness Lake near Heber Springs, and members of a nonprofit want to know where the swans go when winter is over.
The Trumpeter Swan Society, which is dedi- cated to the protection of the species, is raising funds to have one of the swans fitted with a spe- cial collar that can track the bird’s movements.
The collar is fitted around the base of the swan’s neck and is outfitted with small solar cells and a GPS sensor. The collar records the bird’s location every 15 minutes and uploads the infor- mation to trumpeterswan.netlify.app/locations.
Currently, there are 19 swans that have been tagged as a test run, and the plan is to tag about 160. The goals of the project are to evaluate the swans’ year-round movements, determine whether and where the swans make molt migrations, evaluate their year-round hab- itat use and selection patterns, and estimate annual survival rates of trumpeter swans.
Margaret Smith, executive director of The Trumpeter Swan Society, said that typically, the swans are tagged at their spring habitat,
but in the case of the swans that visit Heber Springs, the plan is to tag a swan while it is at Magness Lake.
“Mostly, the states that are [tagging] are doing it where they nest in the summertime,” she said. “Well, it’ll show us where those birds are going to winter, but what is the likelihood of capturing one of the birds that actually fly down to Heber Springs? We want to do it on the back end, on the Southern end — put a collar on one of the Heber Springs birds in January or next winter, and then we’ll be able to see where that bird or birds migrate to.”
Smith said that in the past, tagged swans only had colored plastic collars that had special codes. The codes then had to be reported by a person who spotted the bird. Information from the new collars is uploaded automatically.
Smith said the collars cost about $1,500 each, and members hope to raise enough mon- ey to get one and to pay for someone to come to Heber Springs to outfit the swan.
For more information, visit www.trumpeter swansociety.org.
SUBMITTED PHOTO