Sweetser Prairie could become a multi-acre storm garden to capture and allow runoff from the north to soak into the ground and prevent flooding

Please click on image to ENLARGE view of a portion of the Sweetser Prairie, a wet meadow that has never been farmed intensely but does have some nonnative vegetation and appears to have had various kinds of debris dumped on it.
Why is it important? Because it is the only parcel of land in the Kitty Creek watershed that can catch and hold a significant amount of stormwater runoff from the hillsides to the north, east and west. Water entering the area could be routed there and trapped inside a berm, which would allow the prairie soil and vegetation to cleanse it and delay its release into the tiny channel of Kitty Creek. Such a project could save the city of Fayetteville millions of dollars in downstream stormwater damage and protect residents of downstream houses from flooding. It could mitigate the currently dangerous downstream flooding and alleviate the need for drastic measures such as the illegal dredging of the channel of Kitty Creek that occurred this week.