Eureka is Nature
The lovely unseasonably warm New Year’s Eve had me out for a reflective walk, taking time to sit for a few moments at various spring reservations – Grotto Spring, Crescent Spring, Harding and Sweet Spring. All the springs had a fine flow from the recent rains.
The round trip circuit to see all of these beautiful features at the heart of our little city is barely a mile. No, you can’t drink the water at the springs. Sitting next to them for five or ten minutes may not cure what ails you, but they certainly retain the miracle of health-promoting spiritual upliftment. What surprised me was that I wasn’t the only person making that circuit as part of what might become a New Year’s ritual.
Eureka Springs is unique in that nature is completely intertwined with our city. Out my front door is Spring Street. Out my back door is a wooded valley with a view of the hills that hides the homes of East Mountain. Out the front door are tourists driving five miles an hour in a 15 mile an hour zone.
Out the back door are grey fox, red fox, possums, raccoons, deer and armadillos. Enjoyment of nature is something that we can all agree upon, whether we are engaged in hunting or fishing, hiking or mountain biking or other activities that just get us into nature, whether or not that is our actual intention. Playing golf doesn’t count.
It is important that those human activities in nature are conscious and don’t have unintended consequences for nature (and ultimately humans), such as the ill-advised introduction of wild hogs for sport of the hunt. We suffer the results.
In February 1886, just seven years after the founding of the city, the city’s early leaders created at least 13 ordinances establishing spring reservations of Eureka’s well-known healing springs. We are the beneficiaries of this foresight, which was very early in the concept of developing public parks and public spaces.
Yellowstone became the first national park in 1872. The preservation of the springs reserves in Eureka Springs predates the establishment of Yosemite by four years.
Being in nature, a simple walk in the woods, soothes the soul. Nature begets art. Art begets a appreciation of nature. We live in nature.