The Nature Conservancy is an international land conservation organization with satellite offices all over the globe. Working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people is a tall order of business to say the least.

Since Earth Day is recognized every April, we felt it was fitting to incorporate the wisdom and expertise of The Nature Conservancy and other nature minded folks into the April issue of Little Rock Family.

The Nature Conservancy’s Arkansas Director Scott Simon is not just responsible for providing support to his staff and his partners in accomplishing crucial conservation goals. He is also a husband and father sharing these goals and ideals with his family.

He and Angela, his wife of what they call “nineteen hilarious years,” are transplants from Illinois, but are Arkansans at heart. Angela shares what brought them to Arkansas over 17 years ago. “Scott applied for a position as land steward with The Nature Conservancy. Like most northerners, we didn’t know much about Arkansas. His interview was in late March. The azaleas were blooming. The dogwoods and red buds were in full flower along Cantrell Hill. We met the most interesting and welcoming people and we stumbled upon some fantastic restaurants. We got here as fast as we could. It is home. We may not be from here, but we are doing our best to raise a couple of good Arkansans.”

Scott and Angela’s children Charlie, 14, and Annie, 12, are no strangers to the great outdoors. Some of their favorite activities as a family involve being outside. Scott says, “We own about 150 acres near Paron along 1.5 miles of the north fork of the Saline River with the Charles Witsell family and my colleague Doug Zollner. We call it Frog Valley.” Charlie’s birthday parties are there every year. “The kids run around in the woods and fields and play in the river. One year, they discovered a 20 foot long muddy slide into a small stream that otters used by the river. The kids spent an hour sliding down it into a mud puddle at the base,” Scott shares. “When they are on the property, we give the kids whistles so they can let us know if they have any problems. These days, kids don’t often get an opportunity to be out of sight of an adult. They are constantly supervised. It’s great to see how happy they are to have that kind of freedom and responsibility. They run wild and then sleep the entire drive home.”

The Simon family regularly engages in cooking and hanging out around campfires, making s’mores, building forts, hiking and biking, canoeing and kayaking, swimming, archery, fishing, and hunting. Although a lot of their time is spent outside, they also enjoy their time at home as a family. They love eating meals, talking, and spending time at their kitchen island that Scott’s brother labeled “The Center of the Universe”, since most of their family home activities happen there. The nearby playroom is also a favorite spot for Annie’s crafting and Charlie’s indoor soccer.

The Simon family takes a lot of road trips to see their family that lives outside of Arkansas. They don’t rely on a DVD player to pass the time. “Angela buys a few songs before the trip and plans the perfect play lists for singing on the drive. I drive and she’ll read books to us. It is fun. We all talk a lot. There is nothing else to do. We learn a lot about each other and the time flies by,” Scott affirms.

Angela works at Poe Travel where she helps orchestrate trips of a lifetime for families, from African safaris to European adventures, but the Simon family has had numerous adventures of their own. State-side, the Simons take a couple of hikes a year at national or state parks like Petit Jean State Park and the Buffalo National River. The kids have been going on float trips since Annie was two. At least one to two times a year they take other family trips that they plan as a family. They have been to Alaska to see bears. In Tanzania they rode camels. In San Francisco they went to a fortune cookie factory and Alcatraz Prison. They also visit less obvious places like the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory’s Permafrost Tunnel outside Fairbanks, Alaska and an elephant research camp in Tanzania. “We take hikes every place we go even if it’s even just half an hour. We are always able to find something,” says Scott.

“Though we have been to some pretty incredible places, we rarely reminisce about the perfect vacations. The most memorable ones are the ones that were the hardest, scariest or don’t go as planned. Our favorite memories are the ones that are the most ridiculous like kayaking in the cold Alaskan rain and camping next to a glacier; or the Arkansas River canoe trip where we followed a group of drunk Texans and rescued one of them when their canoe tipped,” Scott shares.

Making a Mark on the Parental Landscape

LRF- What do you think your kids have learned from these experiences?

SS- They have learned that the world is a big place. There is a lot to explore. Even if something doesn’t go as planned and turns out to be a disaster, we’re all going to laugh about it eventually. Some of these memories we’re not sure they actually even remember but they become part of our family legend.

What ideas and values do you hope to instill in your children through their experiences?

We want them to be confident in their ability to adapt to and manage a wide variety of situations. We want them to be curious, kind, savvy, responsible, and honest, while seeking to understand many different kinds of people and realizing basic human similarities. We also want them to participate in their community and world, to be happy and to understand that it is up to them to be happy.

What do you hope to share with other parents or other families in relationship to the work of The Nature Conservancy?

I hope we have a state where families can experience nature in all sorts of different ways. These experiences can be really small or really big. It can be as simple as a walk after dinner. You don’t need to over think outdoors time with your family. It doesn’t require any gear or knowledge. Just get outside. Together. A friend of mine would help us organize logistically complicated trips for out of state supporters. When I was worried about every detail being just perfect he would say, “Once they get on the river, everything will be perfect. Being on the river will take care of everything.” And it always did.

What is your advice to parents to help them encourage their kids to play outside?

Everyone has trouble dragging or inspiring their kids to go outside to do something. Prying yourself away from the everyday stuff and video games can be a challenge. You are always going to get pushback. It’s so much easier to not make the extra effort. But it is almost always fun, one you get out. It’s like exercising. You never think “I wish I hadn’t done that.” So my advice would be just do it. Don’t make it a big deal. Just do it.

What is The Nature Conservancy’s role in conserving our state’s natural heritage?

Arkansas is a very special place and conserving these great landscapes and rivers for families to enjoy in the future is what it’s all about. The Nature Conservancy is a private, on the ground conservation organization that works with landowners, businesses, agencies, and other organizations on practical conservation projects and solutions that benefit people and wildlife. We acquire land and manage it ourselves or more frequently transfer it to a public agency like the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission or state parks.

Most of our work is with private landowners, businesses and agencies on improving habitats for wildlife in priority places in Arkansas. This includes stream bank restoration to reduce sediment and improve water quality and fish habitat, prescribed burns to improve quail habitat, cedar removal to restore prairies, conservation forestry for landowners that want a return on investment from their timber but also better habitat for wildlife.