A groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at The Course at Sager's Crossing in Siloam Springs to celebrate a major milestone toward protecting the golf course's stretch of Sager Creek.
This outdoor event will be press or invite only due to the pandemic, but will also be recorded and uploaded for later viewing and sharing, according to a press release from the Illinois River Watershed Partnership (IRWP). Masks are required for all attendees.
The project is a partnership between IRWP and the city of Siloam Springs, which owns the property. Natural State Streams has been hired as the contractor to restore more than 4,000 linear feet of streambank. Work will include stabilizing banks with stone and wood structures, constructing almost nine acres of floodplain and upland prairie habitats and planting more than 6,000 native plants.
Nicole Hardiman, IRWP executive director; T.J. Hein of Natural State Streams; and Curtis Smith, a member of the The Course at Sager's Crossing's Board of Directors, will share comments at the groundbreaking ceremony.
"We look forward to this natural area becoming an attractive community asset, increasing water quality, and improving playability of the golf course," remarked Travis Chaney, IRWP Project Manager and longtime resident of Siloam Springs. "Additionally, it will provide great fish-rearing and pollinator habitat. Without adequate riparian vegetation and floodplain access, complex stream ecosystems can become little more than urban drainage ditches."
This is a part of a larger effort to reforest 20 miles of streambank along tributaries of the Illinois River. With funding from Arkansas Natural Resources Division and Walton Family Foundation, IRWP is offering financial and technical assistance to qualifying landowners in the watershed.
Maintaining adequate riparian buffers can reduce erosion, regulate water temperature, limit algal growth, filter out urban pollutants, keep water flowing in streams year-round, and provide travel corridors and food sources for wildlife.
This is just one of many steps taken by Siloam Springs' city government and residents to protect Sager Creek, a tributary of the Illinois River that runs through the town next to the trail system and through John Brown University. Sager Creek has been the defining natural feature of the city since its founding in the late 1800s.