Project Overview

Crater of Diamonds State Park

The Challenge (Project Purpose)

The Approach  (Methodology)

The Results

About the Student

A Diamond Primer

This project produced an Interpretive Media Concept Plan for Crater of Diamonds State Park. The Plan provides an overview of visitor characteristics and expectations, identifies unifying interpretive themes and messages, and develops interpretive media designs for several major features at the park. This information forms the basis of recommendations for changes that will improve the visitor experience and fulfill agency goals for the park.

The new interpretive media will improve the visitors' experience by:

• Getting them excited about the site.

• Effectively answering their questions about their search for diamonds.

• Revealing interesting and relevant stories about the site and its history.

• Engaging them through interactive, meaningful, and enjoyable interpretive exhibits and programs.

Background:

Imagine digging, sifting, and rinsing dirt for hours on end under a scorching July sun in a dirt field in Arkansas. A prison camp? No, you're searching for diamonds... and while you haven't found any, you have discovered some interesting pieces of quartz, jasper, and something you think might be a garnet. The children are still digging away happily, but they're starting to whine with thirst and growing boredom. They missed the children's interpretive program and tired quickly of the playground. You need the bathroom and a Coke... you can see the former across the field, and you know there's a restaurant around somewhere, but you're not sure where. The nearest staff person is back at the Visitor Information Center, at the top of a long, steep, hill. You sigh, wipe your sweaty forehead with a dirty bandana, and keep on digging...

Sound like an ideal family vacation? It can be... 

The Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism is in the process of evaluating and upgrading the facilities and programs at Crater of Diamonds State Park. Their goals include improving visitor satisfaction and more effective communication of the themes and stories that they feel are essential to the site.

Arkansas' new Conservation Tax provides over $19 million for improvements to state parks, with an undetermined amount being used for improvements at Crater of Diamonds.  Overall park improvements are being coordinated by a Little Rock architectural firm, which asked an interpretive team from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point to develop new interpretive exhibits and provide recommendations for visitor services facilities. This interpretive team is composed of Debbie White (author of this project), Ron Zimmerman, and Michael Gross with assistance from Jim Buchholz, also of UW-SP.

What were the (assumed) problems to be addressed through this project?

• Most visitors were perceived as "dissatisfied" because the majority do not find diamonds. Staff did not believe that most visitors plan to return.

• Outdated visitor services facilities, as well as a confusing fee structure, may contribute to this dissatisfaction.

• Decreasing annual visitation.

• Harsh conditions on the digging field during the summer.

• Lack of funding. Small interpretive staff (one full-time, one and a half seasonals) and insufficient workspace.

• Outdated interpretation (two-dimensional panels, exhibits, slide presentation, publications, and live programs). Current interpretation is not based upon answering visitor's questions about the site in a fun, engaging way.

Visitors at Crater of Diamonds rinse through dirt samples they collected in search of diamonds or 40 other minerals that can be found at the park.

  Some "regulars," like Don Mayes of northwestern AR, search  Crater of  Diamonds for weeks or months at a time. Many of the regulars have found hundreds or thousands of diamonds over many years' time. Yes, those are diamonds in each one of the little boxes that Don is proudly showing off! 

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