Red Oak Park plan would tear up the ground and displace mature trees and other significant vegetation but do nothing to protect the park from the huge upstream flow of water from the south, east and west

Red Oak Park Plan

MAYBE, this plan would help protect the property of the landowner downstream to the north toward Hamestring Creek. But it will totally miss the point of trying to protect the existing mature trees and will allow an incredible increase in erosion during construction and have only a minimal chance of improving the park in any credible way.

The only worthwhile and effective use of the money set aside for this plan would be KEEPING the water WATER WHERE IT FALLS: On the lots in the subdivisions to the south, east and west in raingardens created in the yards and in the treeless portion of the park at the southeast corner.

Helping people create raingardens using the natural soil remaining in the area and encouraging NOT to mow but to protect native vegetation there would decrease the dangerous runoff to a manageable level.

It is illogical to spend money doing some that won't meet the goals of the people who originally began complaining about the situation.

Fayetteville's engineering and park departments team up to create plan to "restore" channel of stream in Red Oak Park

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Tour of Woolsey Wet Prairie and Fayetteville's westside sewage-treatment plant at 2 p.m. today precedes big evening for Illinois River Watershed Partnership

Illinois River Watershed Partnership
Annual Stakeholders Meeting
November 10, 2009
2:00 to 3:30 pm Tour of Fayetteville West Side Treatment Plant and Woolsey Wet Prairie
4:00 pm. Tour of Fayetteville Sam's Club
5:30 pm Hors d'oeuvres at Arvest Ballpark, Springdale
6:00 pm Sponsor Recognition and Golden Paddle Awards Reception
7:00 pm. Annual Membership and Board Meeting
Thank you for your dedicated efforts and support
to preserve, protect and restore the Illinois River Watershed.

To see evidence of the need for protection, please click on image to ENLARGE example of construction-site erosion in the Illinois River Watershed.

From Northwest Arkansas environment central

Veterans Memorial 5K entry form for 8 a.m. Saturday, November 7, 2009, linked below video

Veterans Memorial 5K entry form for Saturday, November 7, 2009

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Please click on image to ENLARGE view of a sample of items that will be in the goody bags of the first 300 runners who sign up for the Nov. 7, 2009, Veterans 5K.

Please click on image to go to Flickr page to Enlarge logos of first two major sponsors of the Veterans' 5K race set for November 7, 2009, in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Chance to learn about stream-bank restoration and get a free lunch on Thursday November 5, 2009

November 5 Streambank Restoration Workshop, Springdale 9 am. to 3 pm. at Springdale city-administration building.
To register for free riparian demonstration workshop, email contact@irwp.org
IRWP Streambank Restoration Workshop
ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
The Workshop will be led by Bobby Hernandez, Region 6 USEPA Community Planner and Jon Fripp of Fort Worth,NRCS.
Workshop partners include the City of Springdale Tree City USA committee, the Arkansas Forestry Commission, the Arkansas Association of Conservation Districts, the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC), Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS), and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
PURPOSE:
The workshop will cover several key areas of restoration including:
TECHNIQUES: Various streambank restoration techniques and successful technology and projects will be emphasized as well as unsuccessful restoration projects highlighted.
DEMONSTRATION: Demonstration of Jet Stinger technology will be used to plant willow cuttings along streambanks in the host city of Springdale, Arkansas.
IMPLEMENTATION: Implementation of low cost riparian and stormwater Best
Management Practices to improve water quality and reduce pollution in the Illinois River Watershed.

Jim Bemis missing the privilege of attending tonight's Ward 4 meeting at 7 p.m. in Room 326 of City Hall and asks for support on Red Oak Park concerns: Here it is

As usual, Jim Bemis asks hard questions and makes sense.
Here is a copy of Jim's message:
"Hope you will hold Connie to their commitment on Red Oak Park and that somebody really pushes to see that the "Regional Sports Complex" money is used for true community parks and trails in Ward 4.
"Seems to me that we should somehow get some sort of time-line and set of priorities from the Parks and Rec folks, and hold them accountable. They promised a public meeting and progress reports on the City web site, but I haven't seen anything so far.
"Thanks again,
Jim"
My response:
Jim, was it the September Ward 4 meeting at which I pointed out that any plan proposed to the Corps of Engineers should be provided to the public BEFORE going to the corps?
If one has been sent, then the public should have been notified so that the public can comment on the plan to the corps. The corps rubber-stamps almost everything if there is no public comment.
The corps isn't required to consider water quality or anything harmful involved in the discussion of a plan to pipe water through the park. But corps officials many times have said that the public was right but that the city could make stronger rules than those they operate under.
Such a piping plan would make less sense than just building a couple of dams to make the whole park into a pair of detention ponds and about the same amount of damage. If someone will remind me to call the corps office on Monday, I will try to find out whether they have a copy of the plan and have it emailed to all of us.
If the corps received it, it is a public document. Over the years, I have received several corps reports on projects that apparently were not shared with the planning commission or the council before approval. A few times officials have asked developers whether they have a corps permit, but I have never seen or heard of one being presented to the commission or the council. Maybe Shirley can remember having a corps permit in her packet. In fact, the corps should also provide a copy of every comment received by the public to all city officials.
Destroying the park to "save the park" cannot be allowed. The only real solution is keeping the bulk of the water out of the park and out of the channel downstream of the park. Hamestring Creek is receiving more and more water from all its tributaries, all the way up to Gregg Avenue and the UA campus and Markham Hill. The extra water that will be running off when N. Garland is widened will all go to Hamestring.
I agree with Jim's comments. If, however, the park planners and engineers haven't completed a plan to send to the corps, then I would recommend being patient a bit longer but only after making clear that the plan should come to a Ward 4 meeting for public scrutiny BEFORE going to the corps.
I assume that the park department's report on Red Oak Park is on the agenda for this meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.