OOR Newsletter Q1 2024

Happy New Year from the Arkansas Office of Outdoor Recreation! 

As we move into 2024, I’ve taken a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come. We had a transformative and productive second year.  The structure of the office, relationships that were built, and priorities and goals that were established in year one paved the way for the OOR to launch major initiatives in year two. 

The mission and importance of the OOR were further defined throughout the second year as we established a strong, solidified message of being the bridge between the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism and the Department of Commerce. Outdoor recreation has now become a ‘must-have’ in the toolkit for economic development organizations in Arkansas and we will continue to share that message in year three.

As we move into 2024, I’ve taken a moment to reflect on how far we’ve come. We had a transformative and productive second year.  The structure of the office, relationships that were built, and priorities and goals that were established in year one paved the way for the OOR to launch major initiatives in year two. 

The mission and importance of the OOR were further defined throughout the second year as we established a strong, solidified message of being the bridge between the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism and the Department of Commerce. Outdoor recreation has now become a ‘must-have’ in the toolkit for economic development organizations in Arkansas and we will continue to share that message in year three.

In 2023, Governor Sanders established the Natural State Initiative (NSI) and NSI Advisory Council.  I was appointed to serve on that council and asked to lead the NSI Economy Subcommittee. After interviews with multiple Arkansas outdoor recreation companies, we drafted a report that included recommendations to the Governor.  The NSI Opportunity Zones were established, which include four state parks and an area of 1/8th mile around them. In addition to the establishment of these zones, the Arkansas Tourism Development Incentive Program was expanded to include income and sales tax credits for businesses in an effort to drive additional investment and enhance the visitor experience at the parks. As part of this initiative, the OOR was successful in bringing Loblolly Creamery to the new Pinnacle Mountain State Park Visitor Center.  Further promotion of the zones and incentive programs has begun and will continue in year three.

The OOR facilitated the completion of the state RFQ process for the Maumelle Pinnacles Conservation Area (MPCA) Recreation Master Plan. Crafton Tull was chosen from this process to complete the Master Plan in collaboration with multiple public and private landowners and stakeholders within the MPCA. This will be one of the most important public-private partnerships for the future of outdoor recreation for the residents of central Arkansas. At the grand opening of the Pinnacle Mountain State Park Visitor Center, the OOR publicly announced the plan and launched the story-map and public surveys. The Master Plan will be completed in year three.

We expanded our social media reach and gained hundreds of new followers, allowing for additional exposure and promotion of our initiatives.

The Arkansas Outdoor Recreation Grants Program (ORGP), which was successfully moved over to the OOR in year one, completed another grant cycle and sent recommendations to the Governor. Grant recipients will be announced and awarded in year three. The Great Strides Program was reestablished in partnership with the Department of Health and the Trails for Life grant was relaunched.  In addition, the legislature approved an $800,000 appropriation increase for the ORGP, allowing additional projects to be funded. The OOR signed a contract for Foundant, a software that will automate the grant process, allow communities to apply online, and streamline the administrative burden for the ORGP team, allowing them more time to devote to larger statewide initiatives.

The OOR facilitated the completion of the state RFQ process for a Statewide Outdoor Recreation Economic Impact Study in partnership with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Heartland Forward was chosen from this process to complete the study, which will help us understand the economic value of key outdoor recreational amenities and activities in the state, as well as analysis of data to help better inform infrastructure investment decisions and marketing campaigns in the future.

The culmination of the second year for the OOR resulted in the wildly successful inaugural Arkansas Outdoor Economy Summit in Little Rock. The OOR hosted the summit with the goal of gathering contributors from all segments of the outdoor economy in our state under one roof for the first time. We set out to establish how important outdoor recreation is to Arkansas’ economy and create partnerships and communication between its many facets. This first year we started small, hoping to prove the need and desire for this type of gathering. We blew all expectations out of the water by bringing in more than 100 people from all across the state and country interested in partnering to grow the Arkansas outdoor economy to the largest it’s ever been.

In addition to work in the state, we’ve been hard at work promoting Arkansas across the nation. I was elected by my peers to serve as chair of the Confluence of States in 2024, testified in support of Congressman Westerman’s EXPLORE Act in DC, and participated in interviews to promote Arkansas outdoor recreation in national media outlets.

A priority for the OOR has been to build relationships with the outdoor recreation industry and communities in Arkansas and to become the statewide one-stop shop/resource hub for all things outdoor recreation. Outreach across the state continued throughout year two.  We were instrumental in the recruitment of Eddyline Kayaks, Altangle Cycling, Hightag, and Venku to the state of Arkansas.

We will continue to serve our industry and community partners across the state in year three. Our team will be hard at work in the field addressing barriers to growth and identifying areas to provide additional resources. We plan to hold six regional outdoor recreation listening conversations across the state in collaboration with AGFC and AEDC in order to share and gather information from our partners. We are also working with the University of Arkansas to develop an Arkansas Outdoor Recreation Community Scorecard that will help our team analyze communities’ unique infrastructure assets and needs, and then develop specialized plans to address those needs. We will be building trail networks, creating a more robust library of resources on our website, promoting the state at industry tradeshows and conferences across the U.S., and identifying ways to create collaborative partnerships. We will culminate the third year of the OOR by hosting a second Arkansas Outdoor Economy Summit. More details to come on all of these initiatives.  Please follow along on our social media and in these newsletters for additional information throughout the year. As always, if you would like our team to come visit, please reach out.

Happy trails,

Katherine