CPRG – Fayetteville Town Branch Corridor

In 2024 the Watershed Conservation Resource Center (WCRC) partnered with Metroplan, the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission (NWARPC), the City of Fayetteville, the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust, and the Beaver Water District to receive funding for restoration of the Town Branch floodplain corridor through a Climate Pollution Reduction Grant through the EPA.

The Town Branch – Fayetteville project is located along Town Branch, a tributary to the West Fork of the White River (WFWR) in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  The Razorback Greenway runs throughout the project area. The WCRC is working with the City of Fayetteville to restore 12,327 feet of degraded stream and 202 acres of degraded riparian area.  The project is entirely within a federally designated Low-Income and Disadvantaged Community (LIDAC) census tract. The estimated combined carbon reduction and sequestration from this project is 51,849 metric tons during 2025-2050.

Restoration of this highly urbanize area will reconnect residents to the spring-fed stream and tributaries, while creating green infrastructure that will filter and retain pollutants from stormwater runoff.  The project also protects the waters of Beaver Lake, the drinking water source for Northwest Arkansas.  NWALT will develop a conservation easement.  If funding allows, additional restoration will be conducted in riparian areas along tributaries to Town Branch.

Restoration of a site this large can be difficult when considering the multiple different habitat types present. For the purposes of simplifying management actions, the property has been divided into three main habitat groups, wetlands, prairie, and forrest. Each of these have different actions that need to take place to improve overall habitat of the property. In general the focus of the restoration approach for all three groups will be to begin treating and removing non-native and invasive species and allowing natives to repopulate the area.