Ballard was introduced by her father, John King, a former Hope Evening Lions Club member, who noted that she has served as director of the commission for about 18 months after previously working as a wildlife veterinarian for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Ballard explained that the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission is a small agency within the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism, but one with a broad mandate rooted in conservation science and data collection. “We are a small but mighty agency,” Ballard said. “I just want to tell you a little bit about our mission today and what we do.”
She traced the commission’s beginnings to national conservation efforts in the mid‑20th century, when scientists and conservationists recognized the need not only to study ecosystems but to actively protect them. “By the 1950s there were some people who were discontent with just studying,” Ballard said. “They were seeing changes in nature that they weren’t really liking, and they wanted to do something about it.”
Those efforts eventually led to the creation of state natural heritage programs, including Arkansas’s, which was founded in 1973. Ballard said Arkansas was unusual in combining two major functions into one agency: managing a system of protected natural areas and maintaining a centralized database of rare species and ecological data. “The idea is that the species and ecosystems that make up our state are part of our heritage too,” she said. “That’s part of what makes Arkansas Arkansas.”
Ballard said the commission has identified three core areas of expertise that guide its work: natural areas, community and botanical ecology, and the natural heritage database.
The commission currently manages 83 natural areas totaling more than 77,000 acres across the state. Ballard described them as “living museums” that preserve examples of Arkansas’s original ecosystems. “These are the crown jewels of Arkansas public lands,” she said. “We ask folks to visit them, enjoy them, but tread lightly, because these are some of the most ecologically sensitive and pristine areas in the state.”
She noted that many of the areas are open to public use, including hiking, hunting, biking and rock climbing, often through partnerships with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Fourteen of the natural areas function as community green spaces within or near city limits.
Ballard highlighted Miller County Sandhills Natural Area as a local example, calling it “a gem in your backyard.”
“It has more biodiversity than any other natural area in our system,” she said. “If you literally count up the number of different species--plants, insects, birds--this one has some incredible things.”
She encouraged members to visit the site, noting that it includes a walking trail and is open to hunting during appropriate seasons.
Ballard also discussed the commission’s role in botanical ecology, including stewardship of the state herbarium, an archive of pressed plant specimens used for research and conservation planning. “That’s 100 years or more of science and data that we can still use,” she said. “Some of the earliest specimens predate the recognition of DNA, and now they can be used for genetic research.”
She said the herbarium’s collection surpassed 20,000 specimens last year and is designed to absorb collections from universities that can no longer maintain their own.
The commission’s natural heritage database, Ballard said, serves as both an archive and a real‑time tool for conservation and development planning. “It drives conservation, informs research, and informs sustainable development,” she said.
The database currently tracks about 43,000 active records and monitors more than 1,000 species of concern, most of them plants and little crawling, winged creatures. “If you look at all the living things on Earth, most of them are plants, and the next biggest group is insects,” Ballard said. “We don’t track more plants than anything else because we have a botanist. We have a botanist because we need to track more plants than anything else.”
During a question‑and‑answer session, Ballard addressed topics ranging from feral hog control to amphibian conservation and conflicts between agriculture and ecology.
Asked about feral hogs on lands closed to hunting, Ballard said research shows that casual hunting often worsens the problem. “The only way that it’s really shown to effectively reduce populations is whole family trapping,” she said. “If you catch half of them and teach the other half, you’ll never get them back.”
In response to a question about endangered species halting development projects, Ballard said such cases are rare. “Most of the time it’s about mitigation and compromise,” she said. “Until you get down to those 32 federally listed species, there’s not really a mechanism for rare species to completely stop economic activity.”
Ballard also spoke about her own career path, saying her interest in conservation began early and evolved over time. “I enjoyed being a technical expert,” she said, “but now I’ve got this team of young, talented people, and helping them grow and meet their full potential just makes my day.”
She said the commission’s headquarters is in Little Rock, housed with other heritage and tourism agencies following a 2019 reorganization of state government.
Ballard concluded by thanking the club for the opportunity to speak and inviting members to explore Arkansas’s natural areas and resources.
“I’m happy to answer any questions,” she said, “And I hope you’ll go out and see some of these places for yourselves.”
