Region prepares for more green as leaves change
Posted on Thursday, October 9, 2008
Barbara Wilson starts watching sumac and sweet gum trees in early October, searching for tinges of red and purple in their lower branches, the first signs of the blazing colors of fall in the Ozarks.
Wilson, manager of the Arkansas Welcome Center in Van Buren, is one of dozens who volunteer throughout the state to help the Department of Parks and Tourism compile its Fall Foliage Update.
Every Wednesday, she drives a few scenic highways and calls a list of people at state parks, lakes and tourist attractions, inquiring about the foliage in their area. She sends an e-mail to the department, which compiles information from “color spotters” before making predictions about when the trees will hit a peak of brilliant hues.
“I think it’s coming a tad earlier this year,” she said, noting shades of red in the understory of dogwood trees, usually one of the first to turn.
Horticulture experts say a rainy spring and a cool summer will bring a long, bright and slightly early fall color to Northwest Arkansas, peaking in mid- to late-October.
The state’s Fall Foliage Update, online at www. arkansas. com, is revised every Thursday and details the best regions and highways for scenic drives, using the efforts of volunteers to build enthusiasm for one of the state’s largest tourism drivers.
The allure of seeing fall colors packs bed-and-breakfast inns, fills camping rosters and state parks, and drives up attendance in the Northwest Arkansas craft fair circuit, according to tourism professionals.
“October is our biggest month historically,” said Jim Williams, executive director of the Eureka Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission. “We think about tourism year-round here because it’s our staple industry. But we don’t worry as much about October as we do other months.” While lodging professionals work to put heads in beds with conferences and events during other times of the year, vacancy rates drop in the fall as families come from other states to see the leaves. Popular routes for scenic views include U. S. 62 and 71, Arkansas 7 and 23, plus Interstate 540.
Garry McDonald said every tree has a different trigger that sparks a chemical reaction.
“They all have this internal mechanism,” said McDonald, an assistant professor of landscape horticulture at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. “It’s how they prepare for the winter.” Structures in leaves called plastids contain chlorophyll, a chemical that makes them appear green in the spring and summer. The red, orange, yellow and purple pigments are hidden underneath the plastids.
Cool evenings and shorter daylight periods spark the production of abscisic acid, a hormone that causes chlorophyll to break down, revealing brighter colors beneath, and causing leaves to loosen from the trees to conserve energy for the winter.
Plenty of rain in the spring and summer means the trees are healthier, McDonald said, causing the leaves to hang on a little longer before falling to the ground.
“If you get a real hot, dry summer, they’ll start falling before they turn colors,” he said.
Last year, the leaves fell so quickly Wilson had very little to report to the Department of Parks and Tourism.
“There have been some years where you have to get here pretty quick to see anything,” she said. “But I’m excited, I think we’re going to have a beautiful fall this year.” Eureka Springs’ Williams agreed.
A group of women from Wyoming recently stopped him in Basin Park, asking for directions to see a dogwood tree, something he drives by every day without giving it a second thought. “I think sometimes we forget that we live in such a beautiful place,” he said.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com
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