What Red Oak Park may soon look like!

ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Bill McCoy, with Elk River Construction based in Pagosa Springs, Colo., stacks rocks to repair the bank in an unnamed creek that runs through Gulley Park Thursday in Fayetteville. The company has been contracted to perform work necessary to keep excessive bank erosion from occurring along the creek.The city of Fayetteville is working with the Watershed Conservation Resource Center to restore a 1, 200-foot section of an unnamed tributary of Mud Creek, which flows through Gulley Park and is located in the Illinois River watershed.


 
Restoration work begins on Gulley Park stream
BY SUSANNAH PATTON Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Friday, August 15, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/68122


The city of Fayetteville is working with the Watershed Conservation Resource Center to restore a 1, 200-foot section of an unnamed tributary of Mud Creek, which flows through Gulley Park and is in the Illinois River watershed.
According to City Engineer Ron Petrie, land use changes upstream from the site have impacted the stability of the channel over the years. The section of the tributary has several banks eroding into parkland, contributing to excessive sediment in the stream through lateral erosion.
The main purpose of the restoration is to stabilize the whole creek system through the park and improve the safety of the creek, Petrie said.
“ We have some high drop-offs in the area, some of them 8 feet high, where children are playing, ” he said. “ We know it’s going to continue to erode if we do nothing, which will damage the park and continue to hurt any type of habitat in the creek. ”
The project is being funded through an Environmental Protection Agency grant awarded to the resource center and the city through the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.
It’s a cost-share project, Petrie said, with the city paying $ 141, 200 of the total cost of $ 262, 200.
The Watershed Conservation Resource Center has designed a natural channel that will reduce sediment from the banks, stabilize the banks and enhance the aquatic habitat.
Approximately 450 feet of stream bank is being stabilized by constructing rock structures and other features that will deflect flow away from banks. Rock clusters are being used to create additional habitat features.
Matthew Van Eps, associate director of the resource center, said the company doing the restoration work is Elk River Construction of Pagosa Springs, Colo.
“ They have been doing stream restoration work for 15 years for one of the leading stream restoration practitioners, Dave Rosgren, ” he said. “ This is one of our first projects so we wanted to make sure we got someone exceptionally well-qualified to do the project. ”
Van Eps said the project is designed to achieve multiple goals. It will address the city’s concern, he said, which is the safety aspect with the creek being adjacent to walking trails, and the resource center’s goals.
“ Our interest in the restoration project is to reduce sedimentation associated with stream bank erosion, ” he said. “ The sediment has an impact both in the local sense, right there in the stream, and it also impacts the Illinois River watershed, which is one of the primary watersheds in Northwest Arkansas.
“ Reducing sediment improves the water quality, the aquatic habitat and the general ecology of the stream. ”
The city is also working on a project to restore about 1, 000 feet of an unnamed tributar y of Hamestring Creek in Red Oak Park.
The developers of Ruskin Heights donated 1, 200 tons of rock for both projects, resulting in a cost savings to the city of about $ 33, 600.
Rocks of the same size and shape from a quarry would have cost the city $ 30 per ton for a total of $ 36, 000. The city paid $ 2 per ton to transport the rocks from Ruskin Heights for a total of $ 2, 400.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com

NO COAL meeting Wednesday August 13th 7pm

Molly Rawn
OHG Sierra Club, Chair
(479) 879-1620

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: James Burke
Date: Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 6:05 PM
Subject: Important NO COAL meeting Wednesday August 13th 7pm
To: burke@ecoconservation.org
Hi everyone,

We had a successful tour traveling the state last week showing the documentary "Fighting Goliath" and talking with community groups about forming a no new coal coalition. Check out these links for an update:

http://arkansasmatters.com/content/fulltext/news/?cid=96901

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/08/04/news/080508fzlibmov.txt
So far we have set up 'Clean Air Arkansas' groups in Fayetteville, Little Rock, Conway, and Hope to oppose the construction of new coal-fired power plants.

This Wednesday August 13th at 7pm we will meet in Fayetteville to discuss in more detail our campaign and delegate roles to people who are committed to this effort. Please join us and invite your friends and family. Time is running out and we need to come together to stop these coal plants

Here is the address for the meeting this Wednesday:
United Campus Ministry
Omni Center
902 W Maple St
Fayetteville, AR

Also, Maggie Bailey, a volunteer in Fayetteville has asked to coordinate events while I am in Little Rock so you can email either her or me for more questions about our campaign. Here is Maggie's email: mtucker22@yahoo.com

Hope to see you at the meeting. Thanks for your support.

James

burke@ecoconservation.org

www.ecoconservation.org

336-455-1065

Fran Alexander's Northwest Arkansas Times column urges governor to persuade commission to use gas money for habitat preservation, restoration

 
CROSS CURRENTS : Frack II
Fran Alexander frana@nwarktimes.com
Posted on Monday, August 11, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/Editorial/68004

“Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes — one for peace and one for science.” — John F. Kennedy If you read my July 28 article “Frack, rattle, and roll,” about the Fayetteville Shale gas drilling, you know that all that glitters is not necessarily pure gold. In the case of natural gas being released from “fracked” shale strata under several counties in central Arkansas, the big money being made there is awash with serious costs as well. Politicians blinded by the prospect of billions glutting the state economy have generally ignored these costs. So far, none of the money to be garnered from a severance tax on the gas bonanza or from leases has been specifically earmarked for environmental protection costs.
We often read about green issues with a lulled feeling of security that the network of laws and regulations in our country will protect us individually and collectively from dire ecological and financial consequences. It’s time to burst that bubble. Federal oil and gas production exemptions abound to the point that one is left feeling we are living on a wild, lawless frontier where random bullets of enviro horrors whiz by our heads daily. (See: www. earthworksaction. org / pubs / PetroleumExemptions 1 c. pdf ) Most citizens are also on their own financially when dealing with leases, taxes and the complicated jungle of resource prospectors. It seems even the state is not too sure what is in its best interests in regard to resources like oil, gas, bromide, coal or money, and is being especially slow in comprehending what is happening to its water, truly our most valuable resource.
Since my last article, a whole new wrinkle about gas drilling has slithered into the news. Neither the general public nor most of the state’s major environmental organizations (Audubon, Arkansas Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club ) were asked for any input before the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission signed two gas leases. One lease covers 7, 579 mineral acres and 15, 500 surface acres in the Petit Jean River Wildlife Management Area near Ola, in Yell County; the other for 3, 949 mineral acres and 11, 683 surface acres in the Gulf Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Van Buren County. Chesapeake Energy Corp. is parting with $ 29. 5 million and a 20 percent royalty interest to get to drill in these public lands.
Keep in mind that land surface (and therefore, habitat) is severely affected where cleared drilling pads, which range from one to five acres in size, are located, and by many miles of roads needing to be improved, expanded, or built for the hundreds of truck trips servicing drilling sites. Compressors hum loudly day and night, so noise can be a problem for humans and animals. And major impacts from pipeline rights of way, which can vary from 20 to 50 feet in width, occur because their pathways denude vast swaths of land. Many people do not realize that mineral leasing confers dominant use of the surface for extraction of underground minerals, no matter who owns the surface or whether they want drilling on their land or not. But on public lands the public should at least have been asked.
“What are we thinking?” is pretty much the question that environmentalists, snugly wrapped in our straitjackets, mutter to ourselves as we rock back and forth banging our heads into walls. I ended my last article asking, “Will we do anything about this situation?” meaning will we find a way to get at least some of the tax revenue from this gas production directed into preventing and repairing the environmental harm that will affect Arkansas’ land, air, water and human health? The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s leasing has provided a whole new pot o’ gold for grasping, and the commission and the governor are having somewhat of a standoff over who gets to decide how this wealth will be spent.
The commission says the money is theirs to direct to wildlife. Sounds good unless that “wildlife” includes trucks, salaries, buildings, game wardens, hunting programs, equipment, etc. for humans. It needs to be directed to habitat protection and repair, the essence of what could be harmed by drilling activities. The money could also go a long way in establishing methods to protect watersheds with conservation easements, thereby expanding preservation all over the state, not just within boundaries of management areas. Obviously, those borders have just been proven not to be sacrosanct when money rides into town.
The League of Women Voters has done extensive study on the Fayetteville Shale Play, taken tours to the drilling sites and in January co-hosted a forum on the issue with the Sierra Club. Mary Alice Serafini, state president of the League, said they have developed Consensus Positions, which they hope the state Legislature will adopt.
Position 1 is the recommendation that a single water authority be established to coordinate the use and regulation of the state’s public waters.
Position 2 recommends funding for oversight and inspection so that problems can be addressed before damage occurs instead of being only complaint driven.
Position 3 provides greater protection of landowners’ surface rights and of waterways.
Position 4 provides full disclosure of chemical additives being used in drilling and production activities that might infiltrate groundwater or pollute the air. (This is a “right-to-know” issue for anyone who otherwise might be exposed to harmful contaminants.)
Position 5 promotes the establishment of a fund for infrastructure changes and damages in areas affected by gas drilling.
So the League has been willing to do something. I hope you will too by contacting our legislators to tell them to support environmental protection and positions such as the League has taken. Immediately, however, we need to contact Gov. Mike Beebe and let him know we consider resource revenue the property of the citizens of Arkansas, and that the public’s money should go toward protecting our state for all of us, not just those with gas.
Fran Alexander is a local resident and an active environmentalist.
Copyright © 2001-2008 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com

Monarch butterflies visit World Peace Wetland Prairie to lay eggs on milkweed so that caterpillars can eat and grow

Please click on image to ENLARGE photo of monarch butterfly August 10, 2008, on World Peace Wetland Prairie.


Please click on link to ENLARGE tall-green milkweed, Asclepias hirtella, at World Peace Wetland Prairie on August 10, 2008.

Sarah Lewis announces run for Ward Four seat on Fayetteville City Council

Please click on image to ENLARGE photo of Sarah Lewis' announcement of her candidacy for a Ward Four seat on the Fayetteville City Council on Friday afternoon on Fayetteville's downtown square.

Sondra Smith announces candidacy for second term as Fayetteville's city clerk

The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas

Sondra Smith Seeks Second Term
By Skip Descant
The Morning News


The Morning News on Sondra Smith's bid for reelection as city clerk of Fayetteville, Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE - To many, government may seem built on paperwork. But Sondra Smith, Fayetteville's city clerk wants to use her next four-year term as a time to wean the city off its paper binge.
"One of the major changes I would like to implement is to move away from paper agendas," said Smith Friday in her announcement to run for re-election. "This is a huge cost to the city every year."
"It would be cost effective to purchase laptops for the city council and provide them with electronic agendas," said Smith, who is running for her second term. "There will be a learning curve for the council but well worth it."
"During the past three years we have changed from microfilming documents to a document imaging system. This new system has helped with the archive of records," she added.
The job of the city clerk is largely administrative. The position follows public meetings, records minutes and manages the vast flow of documents coming into and out of city hall.
Before becoming Fayetteville's city clerk, Smith worked for five years at Operations Management International as an administrative specialist.
"I have an extensive background in accounting and office management," she said.
"To prepare for the city clerk position I read as much as possible about the state law that governs cities of the first class and the Arkansas City Clerk Recorder Treasurers Association handbook for clerks," Smith explained. "The Arkansas Municipal League meetings have also been a wealth of information for me as well as the Municipal Clerks Institute."
In addition to continuing to bring more technology and less paper to city hall, Smith notes making the place personable and accessible will remain high on her list.
"Customer service has been a priority for me as well as easy access to city information," Smith said.

AT A GLANCE

Sondra E. Smith
Age: 54
Employment: Operations Management International
Political Experience: One term as Fayetteville City Clerk
Husband: Neil
Children: Angie and Schara
Source: Staff Report

Build a rain barrel, help reduce erosion in Red Oak Park

Beaver Water District To Conduct Rain Barrel Building
Workshops July 26th at Fayetteville Farmers Market

For immediate release: July 15, 2008
Beaver Water District will conduct three rain barrel building workshops at 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., and 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 26th, at the Fayetteville Farmer's Market on the downtown square in Fayetteville. Those participating will learn how to build a rain barrel and leave with step-by-step instructions. Additionally, barrels built that day will be given away in a drawing to those who attend. Rain barrels are a water conservation tool. Positioned under a gutter of a home, a rain barrel will capture runoff during rain events. Water may then be used to water the lawn and flowers. For more information, e-mail Amy Wilson, Director of Public Affairs for Beaver Water District at awilson@bwdh2o.org.
Audubon Arkansas also will be on the Fayetteville Square that day with a stream table conducting demonstrations showing how erosion occurs in a watershed setting and how this impacts the watershed and receiving streams and lakes. Audubon is dedicated to protecting birds and other wildlife and the habitat that supports them. Beaver Water District’ s mission is to serve our customers in the Benton and Washington County area by providing high quality drinking water that meets or exceeds all federal and state regulatory requirements in such quantities as meets their demands and is economically priced consistent with our quality standards. For more information, visit www.bwdh2o.org.


Amy L. Wilson, Director of Public Affairs
Beaver Water District, P.O. Box 400, Lowell, AR 72745
awilson@bwdh2o.org; 479-756-3651

“Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes – one for peace and one for science.” -- John F. Kennedy