LAST DAY FOR COMMENTS - 3/20 Stop the Bentoville dam project

[tracer]

I can not say thank you enough for all your hard work on this. Little sugar creek needs to be set free. Let people enjoy nature as was intended.
Please add my email
Tracyleemc@gmail.com

[BEubanks]

All it takes is an email address to provide initial support for this dam removal. Send it!

[Deuce]

Sent you some email addies. Please let me know if you didn't get them. Thanks!

[greg vanhorn]

Thank you, Luke, Tracy, Jerry, Byron, Tom, Michael, Debbie, Charles, Richard and everyone else that has given permission to be copied on the letter. Mayor McCaslin has said, "there exists no interest in removing this dam..." So, we are going to need a lot of people to explain otherwise. Never before, in the Ozarks, has a dam been removed and a river restored, that I'm aware of. But, so many cities are opting to revitalize their waterways by opening them up and creating clean, healthy places for people to enjoy Nature's gift. NOBODY is rebuilding useless dams that don't generate electricity or provide drinking water in the 21st century, because dams cause serious problems for watersheds and we know that now. If we know better, we should do better. Let's show Bentonville we know better than to build an expensive, unnecessary and harmful dam in the Natural State!

Please reach out to friends and family. All we need is an email address.

Humbled,
Greg

[Canoe_Codger]

[greg vanhorn]

Thank you for posting the concept design! It's a preliminary design, but it's a good start. Notice the canoe/kayak park!

[okieboater]

Add me to your list of emails

davidreidok@hotmail.com

[magicmike]

Well if there's a canoe and kayak park included, that's just the cherry on top. Fantastic plan, long over do. Thanks Greg for all of your work on this issue. -M-

[greg vanhorn]

Thanks, Mike and David.

We are starting to get a good number of members. We can always use more people. This is the first time that the dam is opposed and a flowing waterway is proposed. As I've said, the mayor of Bentonville has never met a dam he didn't like. And, he has told me, "the fish can migrate upstream in a frying pan for all I care." It's going to take a groundswell to stop them, but we can do it.

"Damn the dams, save the rivers" -- Neil Young

[mohawklady]

add me to the list floats2003@yahoo.com Pam Ellwood

[greg vanhorn]

The positive response for this issue from people all over the state is surely and indicator that a water trail will be a destination. As a wise friend once told me, "nobody travels to a small reservoir for recreation, but a flowing creek becomes a destination which generates revenue and that is what makes politicians listen."

We could sure use some editorial writers to get letters in the local newspapers. Greg Harton has been willing to publish letters on this subject. (gharton@nwaonline) I'm sure there are more. Never before, in the Ozarks, has a community come together like this to support the idea of restoring a waterway and removing a dam. I don't care what they learned in the 20th century, we know that DAMS POLLUTE RIVERS! Dams do to water quality what coal-fired power plants do to air quality.

[semast]

gmail.com
Scott Masterson

[paddledog]

Is there enough flow for a Canoe and Kayak Whitewater park?
I think the Siloam Springs park is about minimum flow. I have never
seen that much flow from the springs that feed little sugar.
I think this is great. Who engineered the picture of the reclaimed
reservoir design?
Just wondering what is involved with the " potentially modified flood boundary?"
Nice stuff.........

[greg vanhorn]

Paddledog,
Little Sugar Creek has considerable flow for a headwater stream. A group of us floated about 8 miles from the dam into Missouri in about 4 hours last May. In terms of the canoe and kayak park feasibility, of course, it would be a matter of scale and likely would not be equal to what the Illinois River provides for the Siloam Springs Kayak park, but sufficient for its flow. She's a spring-fed creek, so the levels are fairly constant throughout the dry months. When aided by the rains, she becomes an exciting place to paddle with nice stretches of riffles and beautiful bluff lines.

The concept drawing was done by a local landscape architect. While the City of Bentonville has spent considerable dollars and resources to plan for a dam re-construction project, even going so far as to contract with a Texas firm to build the new dam, should funding become available from FEMA, there hasn't been a feasibility study or alternate engineering study done yet to compare restoring this creek to re-damming it. That is what we are fighting for with this effort, equal consideration!

The potentially modified flood boundary is a concept theory that implies that when the reservoir is drained and the floodplain land removed from being underwater, that land will act as a riparian buffer and therefore decrease future flooding. The role of the floodplain(among other things) is to absorb water during heavy rain events and lessen overflows that occur due to the floodplain being covered up by the reservoir. Floodplain lands are Nature's flood control design! So, in effect, when the channel is restored and creek is flowing, the limits of the 100-year floodplain are decreased and valuable land becomes reusable again. Although, this land would be near a waterway and therefore development would need to be done gently and carefully, the architect wanted to add this possibility to show the politicians that there are economic benefits associated with land that could be developed, another benefit of restoring rather than re-damming! Perhaps a small outfitter might even be interested in having land near a float stream!

“If it's wild to your own heart, protect it. Preserve it. Love it. And fight for it, and dedicate yourself to it, whether it's a mountain range, your wife, your husband, or even (god forbid) your job. It doesn't matter if it's wild to anyone else; if it's what makes your heart sing, if it's what makes your days soar like a hawk in the summertime, then focus on it. Because for sure, it's wild, and if it's wild, it'll mean you're still free, no matter where you are.” - Rick Bass

[paddledog]

Little Sugar Creek has considerable flow for a headwater stream.

Wow that is great, but what is the flow?
If you are proposing a WW park I am sure you have the numbers. Illinois at 225 cfm is kinda slow and
I would consider minimum for a park. I think just the water trail is a viable concept.
I just want to know what I am putting my vote on.
Thanks for your work on this...