Stanfill takes photos to promote conservation

Photo by Terry Stanfill
A family of great blue herons rests in a nest near Gentry.
Photo by Terry Stanfill A family of great blue herons rests in a nest near Gentry.

— With his camera and photographic equipment, he makes his daily rounds to local native prairies, to the Eagle Watch Nature Area, to Siloam Springs City Lake and other favorite spots to capture images of wildlife, insects, wild flowers and plants and beautiful scenery. That’s what Terry Stanfill, a local, self-made naturalist and conservationist, has been doing almost daily for years.

When he worked at Flint Creek Power Plant, he captured stunning images of wildlife on the Southwestern Electric Power Company’s property and especially at the Eagle Watch Nature Trail, which he helped to create. His photos covered the walls in the facility’s office building as a constant reminder of SWEPCO’s role in preserving the natural habitat of native plants and animals.

Since his retirement, he continues to manage the Eagle Watch Nature Area for SWEPCO and spends even more time capturing images of area plants and animals in an effort to promote conservation of area wildlife and wildlife habitat.

“Photography to me is what hunting use to be for me and still is for most folks,” Stanfill said. “(It’s) trying to see and kill (or photograph) the trophy deer or elk or, in my case now, songbird.”

Stanfill said he put his guns in the closet in the early ’90s when he bought his first camera.

“It’s a challenge and thrill for me to see, capture and share the beauty of nature every day in every living thing.”

Stanfill said he enjoyed that even as a child, collecting box turtles from his grandfather’s hay fields.

Through his photography, Stanfill has come into contact with other nature lovers, including a number of local experts on plants and animals and the ecosystem of which they are a part and depend.

“It’s also a continuous learning experience for me,” Stanfill said. “Even though I have a degree in biology, I never knew about the specific host plants for specific butterflies. Our total dependence on pollinators which totally depend on ‘native’ plants and wildflowers is why I hope my photos just make people realize the beauty of God’s creation and the importance of every creature, large and small, and especially the plants they depend upon, which we ultimately depend upon.”

Stanfill hopes that his photography at the places he visits daily will help people see the wildlife and native plants there and help to preserve them for future generations to see and enjoy. He hopes his photography will help educate the public on the interdependence we share with the plants and animals he photographs.

“Our existence depends on it,” Stanfill said.

Of special concern to Stanfill is the disappearance of native prairies in Northwest Arkansas, and one of those prairies is located right in Gentry’s city limits, just south of the post office and west of the city park. He still hopes that the land can someday be purchased and preserved to preserve the prairie remnant located there and the native plants which have been prospering and blooming since the land has been left unmowed and the plants allowed to mature and flower. There are other prairie remnants, too, in the Gentry and Siloam Springs area.

“It breaks my heart to see these prairie remnants being destroyed for either recreational use or monetary reasons when there are alternatives,” Stanfill said. “I just wish my photography will stimulate people to explore and learn about the amazing things around us and our dependence on them.”

Stanfill posts many of his photos on his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/terry.stanfill.1. He also posts numerous photos on the Gentry Prairies Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GentryPrairies.