LEADING THE PACK
KATHERINE ANDREWS
DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF OUTDOOR RECREATION
NOVO STUDIO
Katherine Andrews isn’t the only new face at the Office of Outdoor Recreation, she’s joined by 10 brand-new Arkansas Outdoor Recreation Advisory Board members. That’s because she and the board are the first to serve in their roles for the new office, tasked with leading the state’s efforts to grow Arkansas’s outdoor recreation economy. Taking office in November, Andrews came to the role after five years with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. WILD: How does this new entity fit into the range of offices and agencies already in place related to the outdoors? KATHERINE ANDREWS: We are in no way going to be taking the place of anybody. We are the great connector, a resource provider and collaborator. We’ll work with all of these agencies on their efforts just to make sure that the lens of outdoor recreation is represented in all of those conversations and decision-making. WILD: As an entity, what will be the most important elements of your success in this regard? ANDREWS: One of the things that is going to be hugely important and hugely critical to the success of this office is the networking, the collaboration and the relationshipbuilding through interagency relationships. From there, we can look at creating those public/private partnerships for potential funding and just for basic communication. Instead of working in silos, I want this office to create a cohesiveness, that one central voice. I think getting all of our voices together is going to be the biggest impact that we will make in this first year. WILD: What interested you in this opportunity in the first place? ANDREWS: The biggest reason was my love of the outdoors. When I am not in the office, I am doing something outside, whether that’s running, kayaking, hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, all those things. And, being from Arkansas, I have a great love of the land and environment. Getting to incorporate that into what I do professionally is like a dream for me. WILD: Being a younger outdoors consumer yourself, when you look at our state right now is there something you wish we had or was done differently to pull more people of your generation into the outdoors? ANDREWS: I think the biggest area of improvement that we can work on is getting the word out about other areas of the state. You see things going on in Northwest Arkansas, you see things going on in Central Arkansas, but that’s just two small areas of the state. Everything else is also open and people have been recreating outside there forever. That has the potential to get people into rural areas to spend their money and build those rural areas up. Therefore, I think the promotion of those areas is going to be huge, and the way that we could do that is by working with all of these agencies on asset map building, whether that’s through a website, social media, some kind of GIS mapping tool. We can be showing people, “If you go over here, there are all these great trails. Here’s the mountain biking opportunities that you have. Here are the kayaking opportunities.” WILD: As part of that promotion, how will your office address the issue of kids getting turned on to the outdoors, thereby creating the next generation of consumers? ANDREWS: A lot of the other states that have created this office have done some kind of outreach toward the younger generation, whether that’s through creating programs in K-12 schools, working with workforce development centers, colleges and universities. I’m not sure what that looks like just yet for us, but I would love to see it emulated from some of these other states who have done it really well. I think a lot of people get the notion that to be outside is a lot of work. But it’s really as easy as just walking down a trail or visiting a lake nearby. That’s one of my goals, to educate the younger generation that the outdoors is not scary, it’s fun. ARKANSASWILD.COM | 33
