Ozark Foundation Partners with Arkansas Department of Agriculture in Support of Rural Road and Waterway Conservation

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — November 3, 2025

Ozark Foundation, through its newly acquired Arkansas Rural Recreational Roads (R3) Program, has partnered with the Arkansas Department of Agriculture to support the Arkansas Unpaved Roads Program.

Ozark Foundation is proud to support this important initiative, which advances efforts to educate and engage communities within key watershed regions identified in the Arkansas Non-point Source Management Plan. The project focuses on preserving, maintaining, and improving unpaved roads across the state while promoting best management practices that reduce nonpoint source pollution. By amplifying existing recommendations and educational resources from the Department of Agriculture and partner agencies, the Ozark Foundation aims to strengthen conservation efforts and enhance the long-term sustainability of Arkansas’s rural roadways.

In addition to its current expansion plans, the R3 Program intends to grow into three to four priority watershed regions identified under Section 319 of the Clean Water Act.  These efforts will establish recreational hubs that serve as public trailheads for collections of preferred gravel road routes. Each hub will promote outdoor recreation and environmental education while supporting the preservation of Arkansas’s rural roads and the waterways within these priority watershed areas.

The Ozark Foundation has named Cave City resident and veteran gravel cyclist Bobby Finster as Program Director of the Arkansas Rural Recreational Roads (R3) Program.

“The Rural Recreational Roads Program connects the care of our rural roads with the protection of the waterways alongside them,” said Finster. “Cyclists understand the importance of conservation, and by integrating watershed education into this effort, we’re helping to build a stronger culture of awareness and environmental stewardship across Arkansas.”