Green Gulley: Volunteers add vegetation to stream restoration efforts
Posted on Sunday, November 16, 2008
ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Jason Corral, right, and Joseph DiTommaso, both with Lambda Chi Alpha at the University of Arkansas, dig a hole to plant a tree Saturday at Gulley Park in Fayetteville. Volunteers assembled at the park for the Stream Restoration Planting Day.
More than 40 volunteers braved freezing temperatures Saturday to add the finishing touch to a stream restoration project at Gulley Park.
“The turnout today is beyond anything I expected,” Sandi Formica, executive director for the Watershed Conservation Resource Center, said. “We’re really excited about all these people coming out to learn about planting and stream restoration.”
Volunteers from the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, the Fayetteville High School service learning class, the FHS Green Team, the University of Arkansas and the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity took part in the “Planting Day” Saturday by positioning nearly 500 native tree, shrub and grass species along the edge of a stream that runs through Gulley Park.
“This is the first stream restoration project of this magnitude in our area,” Formica said. “So far, everyone loves it.”
The city of Fayetteville began working with the Watershed Conservation Resource Center in August 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. The purpose of the project is to stabilize the entire creek system through the park and improve the safety of the creek.
Carole Jones, parks planner for Fayetteville Parks & Recreation department, said the restored section of the Mud Creek tributary previously had several cutbacks, ranging in height from 6 to 8 feet, eroding into park land. The eroded banks contributed to excessive sediment in the stream and had the potential to destroy walking trails and undermine wastewater utility lines.
“In this particular stream, we had a lot of erosion from upstream impervious surfaces,” Jones said. “There’s been a lot of construction over the years and changing of surfaces from grass and natural areas to rooftops and streets.”
To stabilize the banks, the Watershed Conservation Resource Center designed a natural channel to reduce sediment and enhance aquatic habitat. Approximately 450 feet of stream bank was stabilized with rock structures and other features that deflect flow away from banks. The design was built in August by Elk River Construction.
“The restoration required a lot of soil excavation, which made the sides of the creek really steep,” Jones said. “We’re now re-vegitating the sides of the creek as part of an erosion measure. It’s the last step in restoring the stream, other than monitoring,”
The project had been funded through an Environmental Protection Agency grant awarded to the resource center and the city through the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.
Formica said the project Saturday was part of a hands-on educational experience for the FHS Service Learning Class. The students helped plant more than 4,000 plant species earlier this year as part of the re-vegitation effort.
“We worked with two local ecologists to develop a re-vegitation plan,” she said. “They told us that the plants would have a better chance of surviving if they were planted during the fall. The ones we planted over the summer required a lot of watering and upkeep. These plants won’t have to be watered because the spring rains will eventually come through and saturate the area.”
After planting in their designated areas on Saturday, volunteers enjoyed a free lunch provided by the Northwest Arkansas Resource Conservation and Development Council. Staff members from the Watershed Conservation Resource Center also led participants on an optional tour of the project site.
“We’re really delighted with the success of this project, and we hope to find more opportunities like this in the future,” Formica said. “The project ends in December, but we’ll continue to monitor the conditions.”
A ribbon cutting ceremony has tentatively been set for next week.
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