Nonprofits Offer Free Conservation Tool

The nonprofit Resources First Foundation of Yarmouth, Maine, in cooperation with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission and the Arkansas Forestry Commission, unveiled a free conservation tool at a conference Tuesday in Conway.

The tool, a website titled Arkansas Conservation Center, gives private landowners and service providers working in Arkansas an interactive database of biologists, conservation districts, equipment suppliers, foresters, land trusts and tax consultants. The Web portal also provides a listing of federal and state programs available to landowners and land managers in Arkansas, including information on conservation easements and tax credits.

Service providers may map their service areas and advertise for free on the website, StateConservation.org/Arkansas.

The website is an attempt to help offset cuts in public conservation funding.

The Walton Family Foundation of Bentonville funded the Arkansas Conservation Center. The foundation is a philanthropic organization that strives to sustain the values of Wal-Mart founders Sam and Helen Walton by making a positive difference in freshwater and marine conservation, among other causes.

“RFF’s platform gives landowners the tools they need to be better stewards of the land, more profitable business people, and more savvy consumers of technical expertise,” Gregg Elliott, a conservation communications consultant and contributor to the Arkansas center, said in a press release.