Please bring children to World Peace Wetland Prairie on April 17, 2011, to celebrate Earth Day with Toucan Jam and many other local Fayetteville, Arkansas, musicians and singers

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Donna Stjerna and Kelly Mullholan's poster for Earth Day 2011 at World Peace Wetland Prairie.

World Peace Wetland Prairie EARTH DAY 2010 VIDEO
 Flickr collection of sets of photos from World Peace Wetland Prairie
World Peace Wetland Prairie blog
World Peace Wetland Prairie.com
Aubrey's photos at flickr.com



2000-2005 archive of stories and photos related to creation of WPWP: www.aubunique.com

Please use link below the map to see larger view of the WPWP area, which also allows a person to travel the world by 'Google AIR' by simply using the cursor to move in any direction or search for other addresses.

View World Peace Wetland Prairie in a larger map

Video recorded in March 2011 with watershed issues and local events

Shortakes to run April 11-15, 2011, on Fayetteville public-access televion, channel 218 on Cox Cable

Video running this week (11 a.m., 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. Monday through Friday on Fayetteville public-access television

2005 November 27 to December 4 video

January 5, 2005, video of Morning News workers and Town Branch overflow

Something Arkansas does NOT need now: Disastrous House Bill 1895 could be voted on by Arkansas Senate tomorrow

In the News...			GET INVOLVED...
Get the most up-to-date, national news from Sierra Club at the Sierra Club Press Room. Get local news about Arkansas legislative issues at the Arkansas Citizens First Congress site. Important Legislative Update: The Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWECPO) has drafted HB 1895 which would make it much easier for utilities to get power plants approved under the radar, hurt ratepayers and cut the public out of the commenting process. The bill can be found at http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2011/2011R/Pages/BillInformation.aspx?measureno=HB1895 This bill is bad on several levels: 1) HB 1895, written by the utility Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO), would change the utility law that is the subject of pending litigation in suits where SWEPCO is a party. Changing the law right before a judge makes a ruling is not a tactic of which I want my legislature to be a part. 2) This bill would create a “declaration of need” proceeding to determine whether there should be more electricity production in Arkansas, but not create public notice requirements for the proceeding. If a government agency is conducting a decision making process that could later on affect my utility rates, I want to make sure that I’m given the opportunity to be a part of that discussion. And I won’t know how to attend if the law doesn’t require me to be notified. 3) HB 1895 would tip the scales to the utilities so that they can pressure government to raise electric rates even more. The bill would create a separate “declaration of need” proceeding where a determination for the need of increased electric capacity would provide the basis for utilities to recover new costs through increased rates. We, the ratepayers, would be stuck with higher bills. Unfortunately, it has already passed the Arkansas House. It is possible that this bill will wind up on the Senate floor, and we need concerned citizens to call their senators now and urge them to vote NO on HB 1895. In order to find your own senator, visit: http://www.arkansas.gov/senate/senatorSearch.html For more information about the bill, please contact: Lev Guter Associate Field Organizer Sierra Club - Arkansas lev.guter@sierraclub.org (941) 779-3337

Why we needed Fayetteville's newly approved streamside ordinance many years ago: A few photos of stream abuse witnessed March 21, 2011

Please click on individual images to ENLARGE views of pollution headed directly to Spout Spring Branch without the polluted water being allowed to soak in and be cleansed before heading to Beaver Lake.

Unpleasant looking runoff from storm drain on north edge of Fifteenth Street. Is it caused by naturally occurring algae or by whatever a homeowner on South College Avenue dumped from a bucket shown in photo below?

Drain entrance still wet two hours after I watched a guy dump a bucket there. Material appeared to be white paint chips and thick plastic-like goo that could be material from a paint can.

Flow from storm drain above enters Spout Spring Branch on north side of 15th Street.

The gel-like material at first glance looked like icicles but the the temperature hadn't been below freezing for more than a week.

Seeds from pod of vine milkweed knocked down by Arkansas Highway Department machines dredging ditch the routes water from a storm drain on the south side of 15th Street directly into Spout Spring Branch. Milkweed plants of all varieties provide foliage to the caterpillars of monarchs and a few other species of butterfly and logically would be protected by a state highway department whose Web site touts its wildflower program.

Back on the northside of 15th Street, which is a state highway at that point, the water polluted by something but at least there is a remnant of vegetation including the same milkvine and a few other native species.

The highway workers dredged out part of the business owner's landscaping and widened and deepened the ditch. And hauled away the good soil to its dump in south Washington County.

Both the dumping of ANYTHING into a storm drain and the dredging of the ditch and allowing erosion violate best-management practices for watershed management and were already illegal before Fayetteville's new streamside ordinance was passed. If the ADEQ and the AHTD and the US Corps of Engineeers won't protect our water supply, maybe this new ordinance will embolden city officials to see that such things don't happen so often in the future.

March 17, 2011, video on Community Access Television with Aubrey Shepherd's photos from Fayetteville's two-river watershed

2010 February short video on curb and gutter and tree protection during sidewalk construction and the value of organic soil in riparian zone of Tanglewood Branch in Fayetteville, Arkansas

Invitation to atend Earth Day 2011 at World Peace Wetland Prairie and present all information on environmental and natural-resource conservation

Cedar rose vine destroyed for development that never was built

Night before it was passed by Fayetteville City Council, riparian protection ordinance discussed at Ward 4 meeting

A couple of shortakes on CAT channel from January 24, 2011

Trail planning continues through one of Fayetteville's most impaired urban stream corridors

Please click on image to ENLARGE aerial view from Fayetteville, Arkansas, GIS mapping system of Tanglewood Branch at Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The city trail-planning team visited with the owners of the Agricultural Co-op about how to take the Frisco that runs along the old railroad right of way from downtown Fayetteville past the district and directly through the co-op's property. The most scenic way to cross the Tanglewood Branch south of MLK would be on the abandoned trestle but the easiest way would be along the south side of MLK. Both sides of Tanglewood Branch have parking areas right to the streamside with no protected riparian zone beyond the lip of the stream bank. Even under the proposed streamside ordinance being considered by the Fayetteville City Council, the owners of the land would not be required to remove existing structures unless a totally new project were to be built on the land. However, the Co-op's plan to add a fuel storage tank on the property has presented the opportunity for the trail right of way to be obtained by the city.
For hundreds more images of this and other stream corridors in Fayetteville, please see the following set on Flickr streamside.
For these and more trail images, please see the following Flickr set on NWA trails.

Aubrey James Shepherd shares WPWP big poster the week before 2010 Earth Day at WPWP