Catherine State Park honored

The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen PARK OF THE YEAR: Two campers prepare to boat out onto Lake Catherine in late August in this file photo. Lake Catherine State Park received "Park of the Year" for Arkansas State Parks Region 1 for its commitment to excellence.
The Sentinel-Record/Richard Rasmussen PARK OF THE YEAR: Two campers prepare to boat out onto Lake Catherine in late August in this file photo. Lake Catherine State Park received "Park of the Year" for Arkansas State Parks Region 1 for its commitment to excellence.

Lake Catherine State Park was recognized Monday as "Park of the Year" for Region 1 in the Arkansas State Parks system.

Each year, Arkansas State Parks honors one park in each of its five regions that has shown a commitment to excellence. Lake Catherine State Park Superintendent Richard Boyes said the other state parks in Region 1, which reaches up from Garland and Hot Spring counties to the northwest region of Arkansas, voted for the facility. The region includes state parks such as Garland County's Lake Ouachita and the nationally acclaimed Devil's Den in Washington County.

Boyes said that the recognition speaks well to the status of the park, especially when taking the other parks in the region into consideration.

"We have a good park" of high caliber, Boyes said, "right up there with them."

According to Boyes, Lake Catherine State Park boasts 2,240 acres of property, which consists of 20 cabins, 70 campsites and about 10 and a half miles of trails. Boyes also said that his park has "good hospitality," which is found in the 15 full-time employees and up to 15 seasonal employees who work there.

Arkansas State Parks Operations Director Jon Brown spoke highly of the park's performance as a state entity, mentioning that this is the third year that the park has surpassed $1 million in revenue. Boyes said that four out of the last five years have seen the park surpass $1 million in revenue.

"We do a lot with a little," Boyes said of his park's frugality.

Park interpreter Steve Donahou also pointed out that the park's energy conservation was another reason it received the award. Boyes said that the park has been replacing older lighting with LED lights.

The park also hosted community events such as the I Love LK 5K and Trash Bash, which draw Garland County residents. State Parks programs director Kelly Farrell also noticed "a noticeable and focused improvement" in Lake Catherine's interpretive efforts over the past year. She mentioned that Lake Catherine has added several workshops, such as Introduction to Kayaking and Women's Outdoor Weekend over the past year.

"Not only have they introduced new mission and resource-based programs, they have added several new workshops," Farrell said. "These events helped to double interpretive revenues."

Lake Catherine increased its visitor assists, medical responses, citations, incident reports and traffic stops in the past year, resulting visitors expressing a greater sense of well-being and security to the park staff.

Going forward, Lake Catherine plans to build on its success by living up to the status that comes with "Park of the Year." Donahou mentioned that the park's latest trail, which is more than a half a mile in length and is wheelchair-accessible, is one way that the park is has already taken a step in that direction.

"It's finished and completed, and it's used on a daily basis by a lot of folks," Boyes said of the trail.

Overall, Boyes expressed full confidence in his park's ability to maintain its status for another year.

"We have to work a little bit harder to keep up with the recognition. That's not a big deal, though, for our people," Boyes said. "We've got a great staff and a lot of dedicated folks who work here. It works."

Local on 10/25/2016

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