Learn more about Fayetteville's proposed streamside (Riparian Zone) ordinance at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 19, 2011

 League of Women Voters of Washington County has organized the extremely important meeting. Please attend and invite others. Details below:
A streamside, or riparian zone, protection ordinance is scheduled to come before the Fayetteville City Council in early February, 2011.   To help inform the public, the League of Women Voters of Washington County has organized a panel discussion of the Fayetteville ordinance and similar streamside protection legislation.   The discussion will take place on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, at 6:30 pm in the Pat Walker Center for Seniors at the Washington Regional Education Center, 12 East Appleby Road in Fayetteville.
This discussion will focus on the proposed Fayetteville ordinance and the reasons for its proposal, the economic implications of riparian protection, and the possibility that the Fayetteville ordinance could be a model for other area cities.
Panelists will include Robert Morgan, Manager of Environmental Quality for the Beaver Water District; Sarah Lewis, Ward 4 Representative to the Fayetteville City Council; and Karen Minkel, Director of Strategic Planning and Internal Consulting for the City of Fayetteville.
The public is invited and encouraged to attend this important environmental forum.
A copy of the proposed Fayetteville ordinance, a fact sheet prepared by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and a citizens’ guide to best riparian management practices can be found on the city website,www.accessfayetteville.org; search for “Streamside Protection Ordinance.” 
A 2005 EPA study on the effectiveness of riparian buffer zones can be found at:www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/600R05118/600R05118.pdf.A study released in December, 2010, of the overall quality of water in Beaver Lake, our drinking water reservoir, entitled “Constituent Concentration, Loads, and Yields to Beaver Lake, Arkansas, Water Years 1999-2008” can be found at www.bwdh2o.org.