Mullins Creek Restoration Tour on March 13

Photo Submitted

Mullins Creek after Restoration

The office for sustainability will host a tour of the Mullins Creek restoration effort. The tour will allow members of the university and the community to appreciate the impact of the restoration on the landscape south of Razorback Athletics.

The tour will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, and is limited to 25 community members. The tour will highlight the source of water for Mullins Creek with hopes of encouraging people to maintain and keep the creek clean. Sandi J. Formica, the executive director of Watershed Conservation Resource Center will be leading the tour.

If you wish to participate in the tour, please fill out the registration form.  Space is limited to the first 25 people. A member of the office for sustainability will email you shortly after registration with further information about the tour.

In October 2012, the Watershed Conservation Resource Center in cooperation with the University of Arkansas and the city of Fayetteville undertook the restoration of the Mullins Creek. An urban stream restoration plan was designed and implemented to reduce stream bank erosion and to demonstrate green infrastructure techniques at a highly visible site: a 1,000-foot section of Mullins Creek located on the campus of the University of Arkansas. Erosion of the stream banks contributes sediment and nutrients to the waterway, potentially increasing the water treatment costs for human consumption. Mullins Creek flows to Town Branch, which is a major tributary to the West Fork of the White River. The West Fork eventually flows to the White River, which then forms Beaver Lake, the primary drinking water source for over 400,000 people in Northwest Arkansas.

As a way to engage the community and provide information on the stream restoration project, the Watershed Conservation Resource Center 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. 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. As plants mature, they will help to bind the structure together through root growth to prevent further erosion. They will also aid in dissipating water velocity and act as a buffer to improve the removal of pollutants as the leaves, branches, and stems of the plants interact with runoff and rainfall events.

Sources for this post:

• Watershed Conservation Center’s Facebook Page
• Watershed Conservation Center’s Webpage
• Ozarks Water Watch’s article on Mullins Creek’s Restoration