Stream Restoration Completed on Mullins Creek in Northwest Arkansas

It was a cold and rainy Saturday morning on October 6 when over 60 University of Arkansas students and community members gathered on campus at Mullins Creek to plant over 300 native trees, shrubs, and grasses as part of the Mullins Branch Stream Restoration Project.

Mullins Creek Planting Volunteers

Mother and Daughter volunteering at Mullins Creek Planting

The Watershed Conservation Resource Center (WCRC), in cooperation with the University of Arkansas and City of Fayetteville, received a US Environmental Protection Agency 319 NPS grant through the Arkansas Natural Resource Commission (ANRC) to implement a natural channel design demonstration project on a section of Mullins Branch located on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The WCRC developed an urban stream restoration plan at this highly visible site to reduce streambank erosion and demonstrate green infrastructure techniques. The project was initiated in January 2011, and implementation of the stream restoration plan began in July 2012 and was completed October 2012.

Mullins Branch flows to Town Branch which is a major tributary to the White River that eventually forms Beaver Lake, the drinking water source for Northwest Arkansas. The WCRC designed and implemented the 1,000 ft. restoration on Mullins Branch using natural channel design principles to improve water quality by reducing sediment and nutrients from streambank erosion and to enhance both aquatic and terrestrial habitat for wildlife.

University of Arkansas Women's Golf Team at Mullins Creek Planting

As a way to engage the community and provide information on the stream restoration project, the WCRC organized a "Volunteer Planting Day" following construction. Not only did the volunteers help to plant numerous potted plants, plugs, and cuttings needed to help stabilize the site, but they gained hands-on experience in re-establishing native vegetation in riparian areas. In addition to the project partners, community groups including the Bank of Fayetteville, Beaver Watershed Alliance, Beaver Water District, and the Walton Family Foundation helped to sponsor the planting day. University students and members of community groups came out to give their support and help create a mosaic of native vegetation along the restoration project. By the conclusion of the planting day, the streamside was re-vegetated with native vegetation, such as, false indigo, river oats, alder, witch hazel, buttonbush, little blue stem, prairie drop seed, sycamore, paw paw, chinquapin oak, Chickasaw plum, rough leaf dogwood, and many more species of plants native to the area.

Volunteers working in the riparian zone of Mullins Creek

International Students at Mullins Creek Planting

For more information on this project, visit www.watershedconservation.org, call the WCRC at (479) 444-1916, or check out the WCRC Facebook Page.

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Quote of the Week

"It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish."

~ J.R.R. Tolkien

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Hike in the woods evokes reverence for the Buffalo

Springfield Newsleader

Oct 25, 2012

Written by Todd Parnell

(Todd is President of Drury University and an Ozarks Water Watch Board Member)

My writing did not begin as a book, or series. Words were set to paper to capture memories for my children, and charge them and theirs with full responsibility for preserving our natural God-given heritage of Ozarks streams, mountains and watersheds. They are featured prominently throughout this text.

The upper White River basin and its tributaries in northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri are unique in this world. There is no cauldron of geography, geology, climate, heritage and pristine water quite like them anywhere. To some, it is almost religion: The creator's hand on earthen palate, seasoned with blue-green crystalline water, lots of water.

To others, it is evolution from ancient midcontinent sea to limestone base, cut and carved for eons by that very water. Some simply don't care. Beware of them. The Buffalo River is one of these tributaries, and perhaps to many, it is "the" one. It is America's first National River for a reason, so designated in 1973 to protect it from dams and manly destruction. Its 125-mile navigable course runs west to east through northwest Arkansas and is born of springs and roaring creeks that course its upper stretches. Scattered amongst the upper Buffalo wilderness area are trails, some marked, some not, some remote, some readily accessible, some safe, some not.

To read more, Click: HERE

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Seminar Targets Missouri Manure Regulations

National Hog Farmer

Oct. 25, 2012

The University of Missouri Extension Commercial Agriculture (CA) program is offering a new three-day seminar for swine producers and design engineers this fall, titled "PE Short Course - Design and Construction of Livestock Manure Systems to Meet MDNR Regulations."

The PE short course runs Nov. 14-16 at the University of Missouri Bradford Research and Extension Center near Columbia.

The seminar will help producers understand new regulations regarding design and mechanics of manure storage structures. Joe Zulovich, CA swine focus team leader, has developed a short course to incorporate the new confined animal feeding operation (CAFO) regulations from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources that became effective April 30, 2012.

The PE short course targets design engineers who will be designing and overseeing construction of livestock manure systems in Missouri. The course offers up to 21 PDH credits that can be earned by registered professional engineers. Of the 21 PDH credits, 17 PDH credits are taught by registered professional engineers.

To read more, Click: HERE.

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National Park Service Announces First Program Office in Arkansas, Located at U of A

U of A Newswire

Monday, October 22, 2012

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program of the National Park Service is establishing its first office in the state of Arkansas. It will be located alongside the Fay Jones School of Architecture in Vol Walker Hall, currently under renovation, at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

The program, commonly called "Rivers and Trails," is the community assistance arm of the National Park Service. It supports community-led natural resource conservation and outdoor recreation projects. The Rivers and Trails program does not fund projects; it provides technical and professional assistance for communities to help them conserve rivers, preserve open space and develop trails and greenways. The program offers strategic planning, partnership development, trail and water planning, project guidance, funding strategies, public engagement, meeting facilitation, marketing assistance, open space conservation and greenway plans.

Guy Headland, outdoor recreation planner, will be responsible for projects in Arkansas, southern Missouri and southern Kansas. He will operate from an office provided by the Fay Jones School of Architecture, the administrative offices of which are currently located in the E.J. Ball building near the downtown square. Headland's office will move into Vol Walker Hall once renovations on that building are completed in fall 2013.

To read more, Click: HERE

Contact Info
OZARKS WATER WATCH MISSOURI OFFICE ARKANSAS OFFICE

David Casaletto, President PO Box 636, 2 Kissee Ave., Ste. C 1200 W. Walnut, Ste. 3405
(417) 739-5001 Kimberling City, MO 65686 Rogers, AR 72756

contact@ozarkswaterwatch.org