24-stem cluster of milkweed can be seen on my special tour

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

West Fork Water Celebration coming Saturday

West Fork Celebration photos from 2007


West Fork Celebration on Saturday

3rd Annual West Fork Watershed Celebration
Riverside Park - May 17, 2008

FREE ADMISSION!
The 3rd Annual West Fork Watershed Celebration of 2008 is an important event. The West Fork of the White River flows into Beaver Lake, which is our supply of drinking water. Each year, a cleanup of our river is conducted as part of protecting our source of safe drinking water and protecting wildlife habitats.
If you or your child would like to be a volunteer for this year's river cleanup or volunteer to help with activities being held at Riverside Park on May 17, 2008, you must complete and sign the liability and registrations forms. These forms can be found by clicking the Forms link to the left.
Cleanup teams will conduct a cleanup of the West Fork of the White River from Brentwood to Greenland. Some volunteers will be in boats and others will walk. The River cleanup will be divided into four sections with several pickup points along the way. Teams will be assigned to each section. An adult Team Leader and other adults will be a part of each team, and will be responsible for coordinating his or her team for the pick-up of materials.
It is hoped that parents will join their children at this event and make it a family outing. Come join the fun and excitement!
Volunteers Needed!!!
Sign up for a clean-up team and include the whole family. Win Prizes! Call 225-1611 today.
Activity Schedule:

12:00 Registration and River Clean-up
Volunteers needed for river and park
Call 479.225.1611
3-6 Awards and Prizes...
Food prepared by the West Fork Fire Department and WFEPA
Activities for every age including:
music
fly-fishing
canoeing
fishing for the kids (poles provided, bait for sale)
water ecology
water dynamics/chemistry classes
plus bee-keeping
health info and more
6-8 LIVE MUSIC by Local Groups
Sponsored by the WF Lions' Club

QUESTIONS?
Call Henry Griffith at 479.839.3553
Frances Hime at 479.225.1611
http://www.wfepa.org
The 3rd Annual West Fork Watershed Celebration - 2008 is being coordinated by the West Fork E.P.A. with support from the cities of West Fork and Greenland, and partnership with the following non-profit organizations: Washington County Environmental Affairs, Audubon, Watershed Conservation Resources, American rivers, Beaver Water district, Washington County Conservation, Washington County Bee Keepers Assn., Scouts, other organizations and merchants., U.S.G.S., Arkansas Forestry Service.

The West Fork Environmental Protection Association is a 501(c)3 organization and is not affiliated with the Environmental Protection Agency or any other government agency.

Everyone will be welcomed!

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

Build Hill Place right or don't build it

The maps based on aerial photos below are reasonably new, and people who live in some houses along the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River between Eleventh Street and Fifteenth Street who are paying on mortgages on their homes now have to pay for flood insurance.
A close look at the maps reveals that FEMA now acknowledges not only that many buildings in that stretch are either IN or immediately adjacent to the acknowledged flood plain but also that much of the infrastructure for the failed Aspen Ridge site was built in the flood plain between Sixth and Eleventh streets west of South Hill Avenue.
People who have lived in the neighborhood a long time know that the actual floodplain is much wider in places than the FEMA map shows.
While the developers of the Hill Place project are being required to remove a sewer line and blocks much of the flow under the bridge at Eleventh Street, they have not been told to build their proposed traffic bridge higher than the current walkiing bridge. In fact, they are proposing to build the traffic bridge LOWER than the walking bridge built in 2005 or 2006 across the stream. Because federal agencies will barely even look at the plans, the city must make the decision on this further construction in the floodplain.
In 2003 and 2004, the developers claimed that FEMA maps did not show floodplain in the area. Neighbors pointed out that the Town Branch FLOWED OVER much of that land frequently even though the government had not designated it as floodplain and that, not only did the stream flow over the bridge at Eleventh Street but sometimes flowed over the bridge at Fifteenth Street.
Just another example of NIMBIES being ignored in favor of developers and builders who don't care what harm their projects might do as long as they are able to reach the density level required to make a huge profit. People who say "Not in my backyard" in this neighborhood have seen the water there (and some have seen it in their houses or flowing in front of their houses); so they aren't talking about a trivial problem.
The lowest portion of the former wooded wetland at the southeast end of the project must be dug out and structured to pre-Aspen Ridge grade or lower to reapproach the historical flood-prevention capacity of that land.
No further paving should be done southeast of the existing walking bridge and the impervious fill dirt should be removed and water again should be allowed to soak into appropriate organic soil.
Developers claim their right to build as long as their project doesn't send more water off their land than flowed off there before.
They use voodoo mathematics that ignore overflow from the Town Branch and that ignore the nearly 100 percent permeability of the surface of the area before it was cleared and filled with rocky dirt and red clay.
They rely on the fact that water has threatened the downstream homes a little more each year during the decades the University of Arkansas has filled similar land on the campus and covered or dredged absorbent soil on the campus in favor of non-absorbent, non-organic soil and concrete.
Now is the time to begin to require developments to DECREASE downstream flooding, not aggravate it and blame the university for its building practices. Multiple wrong decisions don't add up to a right decision.

FEMA floodplain map of Aspen Ridge/Hill Place and streets downstream

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Please attend meeting at 5 p.m. Thursday

PLEASE CLICK on IMAGE for EASIER READING.


Water flow to World Peace Wetland Prarie from the Hill Place and Summit Place development sites will be discussed in this meeting.

Ten-flowered native trumpet honeysuckle on World Peace Wetland Prairie on May 9, 2008.

Please click on photo of Lonicera sempervirens, the native, non-invasive, loose-climbing and gently twining trumpet honeysuckle photographed on May 9, 2008. The 10 flowers shown come from the last two leaves at the ends of new growth, which are joined at their bases and grow cup-like around the stem. The flowers grow out from there and the berry-borne seeds will eventually replace them. Unlike its relative, Japanese honeysuckle (L. japonica), Lonicera sempervirens (also known in some areas as coral honeysuckle) will not spread out of control, and its sparse vines won't strangle shrubs, small trees or tall grass.


Scroll down to view photos of a few other native plants seen on May 8, 2008, by visitors from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Spider milkweed

Please click on image to enlarge Asclepias viridis.

Swamp milkweed — old stem and new growth juxtaposed

Please click on images of Asclepias incarnata to ENLARGE.

Members of Osher Lifelong Learning Institute saw milkweed almost grow in front of their eyes on May 8, 2008

Please click on images to ENLARGE.


The area shown below, where Professor Kim Smith's class dug out fescue one day last fall, is dominated by milkweed, some 55 of which I marked with red tape Sunday, May 4. Similar already fast-growing milkweeds in other relatively open spaces may bring the total in easy to spot places on WPWP to a couple of hundred by fall. Butterfly milkweed and spider milkweed and swamp milkweed already are well represented. And at least a couple of other varieties are likely to up by summer.


Butterfly milkweed is the lowest photo of the four — Asclepias tuberosa.

OLLI members saw a magnificent flower in Ellya Richardson Memorial Butterfly Garden on May 8. 2008

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Something Osher Lifelong Learning members arrived a couple of minutes too late to see at World Peace Wetland Prairie on Thursday

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Rabbit nests difficult to spot.

Please click on image to enlarge.

Rabbits who can nest in a thicket are often successful although an extremely high percentage of rabbits born don't live a year because of predators in a natural world. Rabbits who foolishly nest in open grassy areas have a more difficult time reproducing. Mowers kill millions every year. As one can see in this photo, cottontail rabbits often nest in very shallow holes in soft earth. When mowers pass over, the tiny babies instinctively jump upward, resulting in fatal injuries. Rabbits may not understand how wasteful of fuel and how environmentally harmful mowing is, but a female who has lost a litter to a mower may at least learn to move to a thicket before trying again.

War Eagle Appreciation Day tomorrow ( Saturday, May 10, 2008) north of Huntsville, Arkansas

Please see
War Eagle Appreciation Day 2007 photos for a sample of what has been and may be again tomorrow.



Free Music, Food, Education at War Eagle Appreciation Day on Saturday May 10, 2008

Shannon Wurst, the Mountain Gypsies, and Crossroad Country will take the stage from 2-7 p.m. Saturday during War Eagle Appreciation Day at Crossbow Pavilion in Withrow Springs State Park about five miles north of Huntsville off Arkansas 23. Admission is free. Organizers suggest members of the public bring lawn chairs. A cookout sponsored by Arvest Bank and the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce will be provided from 4 to 7 p.m. The event also includes a float that morning led by educators with Ozark Natural Science Center, Audubon Arkansas and Beaver Water District; a stream cleanup that morning led by Madison County Solid Waste & Recycling, and educational booths with hands-on activities. Visit www.bwdh2o.org for more information. Or call 479-756-3651.

War Eagle is a sub-watershed of Beaver Lake Watershed. A watershed is an area of land that drains water, sediment, and dissolved materials to a common receiving body or outlet, which in this case is Beaver Lake, the primary source of drinking water for most of Northwest Arkansas. The purpose of the event is to draw attention to the rich history of War Eagle and the many benefits that War Eagle Creek brings to Madison County and Northwest Arkansans.
Amy L. Wilson, Director of Public Affairs, Beaver Water District, P.O. Box 400, Lowell, AR 72745
awilson@bwdh2o.org
479-756-3651 (office)
479-263-4584 (cell)
Beaver Water District, the second largest drinking water supplier in Arkansas, supplies drinking water to more than 250,000 people and industries in Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and surrounding areas. For information, visit www.bwdh2o.org.

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute bringing group to World Peace Wetland Prairie for tour from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Thursday May 8, 2008

Several members of the Osher Lifeling Learning Institute are scheduled to walk the World Peace Wetland Prairie between 1:30 and 3 p.m. tomorrow. The Osher center is in the UA Continuing Education Center in downtown Fayetteville. Members of OLLI must be age 50 and over and the annual membership fee is $50.
OLLI has about 200 members in Northwest Arkansas and is actively seeking members throughout Arkansas. The local center has a grant for three years but must become self-supporting after that time.
Kathleen Dorn is the director.
Her e-mail is kdorn@uark.edu

The Website is olli.uark.edu
The telephone number is 575-4545
Some classes in coming months will be held at the Fayetteville Senior Activity Center, while most will be at the Pauline Whitaker Equine Center on the UA farm property.


Osher Lifetime Learning Center

Olli in the Ozarks

Wards one and four, Town Branch neighborhood meeting to discuss Aspen Ridge / Hill Place

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Fayetteville City Council to visit Town Branch Neighborhood at 4 p.m. today. Everyone welcome.

The mayor and members of the Fayetteville City Council are to gather at the failed Aspen Ridge town-house construction site near W. Sixth Street and S. Hill Avenue at 4:30 p.m. today (Monday, May 5, 2008 ) to view the 30-acre parcel from which nearly all the trees and topsoil have been removed. The rich, fertile, stormwater-absorbing, water-purifying soil has been either dredged out and hauled away or buried under tons of less-absorbent rocky soil.

Tuesday at 6 p.m., the council is to evaluate a plan that has been brought forward by Hank Broyles, who sold his share of the Aspen Ridge property to his partner in that venture, Hal Forsyth, soon after it was approved in 2005, but who bought the whole parcel after Forsyth's development ended with hundreds of low-income residents displaced but nothing built on the property.

Slimy, yellow silt-laden muddy water has overflowed from the failed Aspen Ridge site onto the north end of World Peace Wetland Prairie ever since that 30 acres' vegetation was removed and the soil replaced with non-absorbent soil. The Hill Place student apartment plan and the Summit Place plan must manage silt and stormwater properly or both WPWP and the Town Branch will be further damaged.

Broyles' new plan is to sell the property to
Place Properties, limited partnership, which develops and manages apartment complexes for college students in several states. The sale, apparently, is contingent on Broyles' getting the student-apartment plan approved by the council.

Please see
Summit Place, Hill Place maps and photos with first plans for Summit Place that were submitted to the Fayetteville planning department early this year.

Please see
Hill Place/Aspen Ridge plans, maps and photos with concept drawing from January 2008.

Town Branch neighbors are asking that the Summit Place plan be evaluated by the council before the council approves the Hill Place plan. Water from the eastern slope of Summit Place on Rochier Hill will increase erosion and further exacerbate the stormwater problems created by the Aspen Ridge land clearing and now the problem of the Hill Place project. Appian Design Center
Hill Place/Summit Place plan designers is planning both projects. Hank Broyles and John Nock reportedly own the Summit Place property.

The Summit Place project west of the Arkansas and Missouri Railroad is in Ward Four, while the Hill Place project is in Ward One.
As in the case of many adjacent projects, these are separate but the upstream work will have a bearing on the downstream project's success in protecting people further downstream on the Town Branch of the West Fork of the White River from flooding as well as an effect on the quality of water entering Beaver Lake, the water supply for most of Northwest Arkansas.
For details, please call 479-444-6072.

Frost weed, Verbesina virginica on May3, 2008, at World Peace Wetland Prairie

Please click on image to ENLARGE.

Today's schedule for Government Channel with times close to exact! New effort. Check it out.

Today's government channel exact run times. Please test it against reality

Earth Fest in Rose Garden during 2008 Springfest in Fayetteville, Arkansas

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE poster

Please see first 264 photos in set of

Earth Day 2008 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and return later to see more!

The packages for the silent auction starting at 5:30 p.m. today at the Senior Center are great

Please click on images to ENLARGE.


Please click on images to ENLARGE.

Please see first 264 photos in set of

Earth Day 2008 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and return later to see more!

Photo set from Sunday's Earth Day Celebration at World Peace Wetland Prairie will grow until complete

Please see first 33 photos in set of

Earth Day 2008 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and return later to see more!

Please see

Earth Day 2008 NWA TIMES story on World Peace Wetland Prairie


John Boozman and Aubrey Shepherd on land now named World Peace Wetland Prairie

World Peace Wetland Prairie visitors love tree frog on April 20, 2008

Please click on image of tree frog to enlarge.

"No, come to see me," says monarch

0868
o869 or

Swallowtail says "Please come see me between 1 and 5 p.m. Today at World Peace Wetland Prairie"

Please click on Image to ENLARGE photo of swallowtail butterfly nectaring on purple iris at World Peace Wetland Prairie on Sunday morning at World Peace Wetland Prairie at 1121 S. Duncan Avenue in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Meetings from past week replaying on Government Channel today. Please enjoy Sunday April 20 afternoon at World Peace Wetland Prairie

For details, please click on
Government channel listings today through next Saturday
Please click on image to enlarge aerial photo of World Peace Wetland Prairie.

Earth Day Celebration at World Peace Wetland Prairie on Sunday afternoon among several events coming up

PLEASE click on image to ENLARGE

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday April 19, 2008. Free 3-foot-tall oak trees of four varieties available at Wal-Mart on Joyce Blvd. VOLUNTEERS are needed to arrive early and remove trees from large sacks and make them available in small numbers. Also, volunteers are needed to hand out the trees and remind people to plant them immediately or get them into buckets of water immediately and plant quickly. Call aubrey at 444-6072 for details.

1 to 5 p.m. Sunday April 20.
Keep the Water Where it Falls, Maintain the Habitat — Earth Day at World Peace Wetland Prairie

Fayetteville's Town Branch Neighborhood and the OMNI Center for Peace, Justice and Ecology have announced that the Fourth Earth Day Celebration since the Founding of World Peace Wetland Prairie, a city-owned nature park and natural rain garden in south Fayetteville, is planned for 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, April 20, 2008.
Nature walks will be led by local biologists and nature enthusiasts, highlighting Arkansas native plants and describing the value of natural wetland and its function for stormwater abatement and cleansing in an urban environment.
Information from founding organizations and area environmental groups will be offered as well as an opportunity to participate in planting trees, native grass and flowering plants and in helping remove Japanese honeysuckle, fescue and other non-native invasive species. Some small trees and possibly some flowering plants will be available for adoption.
Musicians and poets are invited to perform with acoustic instruments; and environmentally friendly songs and poems are especially welcome. Activities suitable for small children will be offered.
Bird-watchers are encouraged to come at dawn or stay until dark. Bring a camera or video recorder. Nice photo opportunities are likely.
The theme for 2008 is "Keep the Water Where it Falls, Maintain the Habitat."
Updated information on plans for Earth Day activities at 1121 South Duncan Avenue in Fayetteville may be found at
http://worldpeacewetlandprairie.blogspot.com
Links to photo albums and slide shows on WPWP flora and fauna may be found at
http://www.worldpeacewetlandprairie.com
Telephone 479-444-6072
Volunteers will find ways to help. Just ask.
Remember: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday April 20, 2008




Conference on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Hosted by:
Congressman John Boozman
In cooperation with the University of Arkansas College of Engineering - Division of Agriculture
Monday, April 21st10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.Reynolds Center for Enterprise DevelopmentUniversity of Arkansas - Fayetteville*FREE parking in Harmon Street Parking Deck. You must bring ticket inside for validation*
MORNING SESSION (10:00 a.m.)
Special Guests:Robert Noun - Nat'l Renewable Energy Lab, U.S. Dept. of EnergyRobert Ames - Director of Development, Tyson Foods (Energy)Chris Benson - Director, Arkansas Energy Office
AFTERNOON SESSION (12:30 p.m.)
Special Guests:Charles Zimmerman - WalMart Stores (Sustainability)Tom Vander Ark - The X-Prize Foundation
PIZZA LUNCH & EXPO (11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.)
Break-out Sessions:Business: Starting and Running a Green Business in the Natural StateNon-Business: Energy Efficiency for Individual Citizens and Households
For More Information, Contact:
Philip Moore (Office of Congressman Boozman)479.725.0400 or philip.moore@mail.house.gov Conference on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency
Hosted by:
Congressman John Boozman
In cooperation with the University of Arkansas College of Engineering - Division of Agriculture
Monday, April 21st10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.Reynolds Center for Enterprise DevelopmentUniversity of Arkansas - Fayetteville*FREE parking in Harmon Street Parking Deck. You must bring ticket inside for validation*
MORNING SESSION (10:00 a.m.)
Special Guests:Robert Noun - Nat'l Renewable Energy Lab, U.S. Dept. of EnergyRobert Ames - Director of Development, Tyson Foods (Energy)Chris Benson - Director, Arkansas Energy Office
AFTERNOON SESSION (12:30 p.m.)
Special Guests:Charles Zimmerman - WalMart Stores (Sustainability)Tom Vander Ark - The X-Prize Foundation
PIZZA LUNCH & EXPO (11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.)
Break-out Sessions:Business: Starting and Running a Green Business in the Natural StateNon-Business: Energy Efficiency for Individual Citizens and Households
For More Information, Contact:
Philip Moore (Office of Congressman Boozman)479.725.0400 or philip.moore@mail.house.gov

Monarchs sailing northeast Tuesday and some pause for nectar on April 15, 2008

2007 photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie and 2008 Earth Day announcementPlease click on image to ENLARGE photo of monarch butterfly feeding on dandelion.

You say you don't have room to plant an oak? Come help plant trees and flowering plants here on Sunday afternoon April 20

To learn how to get oaks to plant or donate, call Central Ark. Sierra Club at 479-530-8328.
Please click on image to enlarge and see Lauren Hawkins on April 12, 2008, preparing ground and planting on portion of World Peace Wetland Prairie at 1121 South Duncan Avenue.

Free oak trees available. Please help distribute on April 19.

From Dina Nash of the Arkansas Sierra Club:
The Arkansas Forestry Commission asked if the Sierra Club would like to do a tree give-away project: They have 50,000 extra 3-foot-tall oak trees (Willow oaks, Water oaks, Shumard oaks, and Pin oaks) and they'd like to give them away.  I said yes, and we very much need your members to volunteer some hours to help take these little trees out of the paper bundle of 100 trees, put 1 or 2 in a bag, tape the top of the bag with masking tape, and give them to people who will promise to water them once or twice a week for several months so they will get a good start.

So if you have 3 or more hours on Saturday April 19, 2008, to help give away trees to help global warming, please email or call me ASAP, so I can plan who'll be there to take care of the give-away table:

    Location:  Wal-Mart on Mall Drive at Joyce Street, a block west of College.
                   Near the Garden Center
                   10 AM-4 PM  (3 hour shifts, 10-1 and 1-4, or the whole 6 hours)
                   Three people per shift, some bagging, some taping, and some
                     handing out trees and putting the planting info sheet with them

                   An easy way to green up some bare places you may know of, too.
                   Take some home to your yard, church, school, or farm!  Give some
                   to neighbors who lost a tree in a storm, etc.
There are also openings at the Rogers Wal-Mart on Walnut Street on the l9th!!
Thanks so much for making this a success: please call me at 530-8328 My cell phone is in the 479 area code so Fayetteville friends don't need to make a long-distance call to reach me in Little Rock.  Or you can email me at Dina_Nash@yahoo.com .

Thanks,
Dina Nash, Vice Pres. Central AR Sierra Club
479-530-8328 
Little Rock

If you can't reach Dina, you may call Aubrey Shepherd at 479-444-6072 for information. You need not be a Sierra Club member to participate.


Toad on World Peace Wetland Prairie on April 9, 2008

Please click on images to enlarge.




Before the storm, this guy was out shopping. A week ago, finding toads on WPWP required digging in soft dirt because many were still burrowed down.

Trumpet honeysuckle on April 9, 2008

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE to ENLARGE photo of Lonicera sempervirens, the native trumpet honeysuckle about to bloom April 9, 2008, on World Peace Wetland Prairie.
PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE.

April 23, 2007, view of native trumpet honeysuckle in bloom on World Peace Wetland Prairie

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO SEE LONICERA Sempervirens bloom on April 23, 2007, on World Peace Wetland Prairie.


Will new growth below bloom in time to delight visitors to the April 20, 2008, Earth Day Celebration at World Peace Wetland Prairie? Please show up between 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday April 20 to see its progress!


Please click
For links to more photos of World Peace Wetland Prairie fauna and flora from past seasons.

Native, non-invasive, non-strangling trumpet honeysuckle about ready to bloom on World Peace Wetland Prairie in Fayetteville, Arkansas

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE view of LONICERA SEMPERVIRENS

Join Planet Works to Advise Legislators on climate-change issues

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE:

Subdivision Committee hearing on Hill Place/Aspen Ridge development video on CITY 16 about 10:15 a.m. Friday

The subdivision-committee video is expected to begin at about 10:15 a.m. Friday, April 4, 2008, or a few minutes after the CAT Board meeting replay that is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on City 16, the Cox Cable Channel 16 in Fayetteville.

Fruit trees in bloom; volunteers at work on WPWP

Please enlarge image to see plum in blossom near northeast corner of World Peace Wetland Prairie.























PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE photo of Curt Richardson's stone work at World Peace Wetland Prairie and Lauren Hawkins soil preparation for Earth Day planting on April 20.

Year-round virtual tour of World Peace Wetland Prairie available on Flickr.com

Please click on links and sample the several categories of photos from WPWP. Watch for the slide-show option or use the magnifying tool to enlarge two to four times for closeup stills.

Virtual tour of World Peace Wetland Prairie in all seasons of the year