Central Chapter (CAMN)

Welcome To CAMN!

Central Arkansas is where it all began! In 2006, at Pinnacle Mountain State Park, a need met a solution. The need: trained volunteers who could help supplement the work of the Park Interpreters. The solution: a recently relocated Texas Master Naturalist, Tom Neale. Together the park personnel and Tom created a training program, recruited the first class, and launched the program that has grown to encompass much of the state of Arkansas and has provided thousands of hours of volunteer support to state parks as well as dozens of other agencies and entities.

For 16 years, CAMN members have been stewards of the natural areas in Central Arkansas. We have educated the public and introduced kids to the wonders of nature and the responsibility we all share in caring for it. We've built trails, provided housing for birds, monitored the quality of rivers and lakes, picked up litter, removed invasive species, grown and planted native plants, and provided educated citizen scientists. We've worked hard and we've had fun. And the Natural State has benefitted from it all. Come see what we do!


CAMN Project List 7-10-25

Our Mission:

To develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach, and service

dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities.

Mother Nature Loves a Native Garden - here's proof!

Photos provided by Native Gardener, Lynn Foster

The link below will download a directory of native plant sellers in central Arkansas. In addition to contact information, the directory lists how they sell: e.g., are they open to visitors or only by appointment or do they sell at farmers' markets, and if so where. It also lists information about the native plants they sell, such as what percentage are herbaceous flowering plants as opposed to shrubs and grasses. It asks about the sources of the native plants, such as whether they come from local seeds and cuttings or whether they come from remote seed or plant sellers. And finally, it gives information about what if any pesticides these sellers treat their plants with. If you buy plants from "garden center” big box stores, or even local specialist garden stores that sell plants from nationwide growers, you have no assurance that these plants have not been treated with systemic pesticides that will kill or weaken your pollinating bees and butterflies. See this frightening study by Xerces for more information. On the other hand, our native plant sellers use few to no pesticides. You can buy their plants with the assurance that they will be free of poisons that can harm pollinators. If you know of someone who sells native plants and is not listed here, contact Lynn Foster or David Holcomb so they can be added to the list.

NATIVE PLANT SELLERS DATABASE PDF