Dean Kumpuris found a pearl on the Arkansas River hidden in plain sight, and he wants to share it with the public.
It's a small island down the hill and across a narrow inlet from the Clinton Library. Until 2016, when a small foot bridge was built to connect it with the library's grounds, the island was accessible only by water. Kumpuris was one of the few people to explore it. He believes he was the only visitor before the bridge was built, and he reached it by canoe.
Once foot access was established, Kumpuris, Bill Toland and the Master Trail Builders established walking trails and cleared vines and poison ivy.
"I usually work on the island two weekends a month, spring to fall," Kumpuris said.
The island is actually a nine-acre sandbar made of dredge spoil deposited artificially over the years during maintenance operations on the river's navigation channel. A narrow slough separates it from the main riverbank on the west side, and a wide slough separates it from the bank on the east side. In high water, the sloughs connect and flood the low south side of the island, depositing sand and silt on the slope.
According to an assessment compiled by Theo Witsell, botanist/ecologist for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, the island contains five distinct habitats including sandbar grassland, sandbar forest, marsh, shoreline/mudflats and rock revetment. Combined, they contain 141 distinct plant species.
I recently toured the island with Kumpuris and John Eckart, director of the Little Rock Department of Parks and Recreation. Together, they are converting the island into an urban destination where families can enjoy the unique Arkansas river ecosystem in a safe and clean environment.
Facing the Clinton Library is a high sandy beach that's big enough to string a portable volleyball net. Witsell speculated that the beach, the sandbar grassland, was actually created during bulldozing activities during the construction of the pedestrian bridge. Dominant flora are Bermuda grass and dewberry. There's plenty of room for children to play and roam, and Kumpuris said he envisions a swim area. A paddlecraft access is also part of the development plan, which Kumpuris said includes a cooperative project with John Burkhalter, who owns Rock City Marina about 200 yards east of the island.
Comprising the sandbar forest are box elder, sycamore, green ash, sugarberry and silver maple. Tall white aster and scouring rush comprise the understory.
The trails are already well-established, well-trodden and well-marked. Kumpuris said that signage identifying the island's varied fauna might also be appropriate.
The marsh, according to Witsell, is one of the most botanically diverse and interesting areas on the site. It contains pickerel weed, creeping burhead, rice cutgrass, arrowhead, smartweed, smooth bur-marigold and other open wetland plants. There is also native swamp-privet and a few bald-cypress trees.
Although this particular island is man-made, it is representative of the vast network of sandbar islands that defined the Arkansas River's braided channel before the McClellan-Kerr Navigation System turned the river into a shipping channel. All that remain are dredge spoil deposits downstream of the locks and dams.
The wonder of discovery in natural places inspires children, Kumpuris said, and the island is the kind of place that stimulates the imagination. It is an excellent complement to the Witt Stephens Central Arkansas Nature Center nearby and its restored wetland complex. It also adds another dimension to the Clinton Library and pays homage to a once vibrant but nearly extinct ecosystem.
As Kumpuris, Eckart and I walked the trails, I reflected on similar environments lost that were present when Lewis and Clark explored the Missouri River in 1803-06.
"William Clark rode ahead of the expedition on horseback while Lewis commanded the boats," I said. "He mostly rode through this kind of stuff, although I think it got a lot more open the farther north and west they went."
When development is complete, the island will be named for Cindy Coates Miller, who died in 2013. The pedestrian bridge also bears her name. For more than 20 years, Miller was the Arkansas representative of the Roy and Christine Sturgis Charitable and Educational Trust. In that role, she helped award grants totaling more than $60 million for Arkansas institutions. A sculpture honoring Miller is at the entrance of the pedestrian bridge.