The Beaver Watershed Alliance highlights landowners in the Beaver Lake watershed who exemplify leadership and support conservation and water quality improvement projects. Recently, the alliance recognized efforts by Jim and Kathy Rollins. They’re landowners and cattle farmers in the War Eagle watershed.
In 2016, the Rollins family began working with the Beaver Watershed Alliance and other partners to restore approximately 1,500 feet of stream bank. Beaver Watershed Alliance Executive Director Becky Roark, along with Jim Rollins, stopped by the Carver Center for Public Radio to speak with Ozarks at Large’s Jack Travis about the recognition and the work behind it.
Roark says they present the awards each year to honor landowners who go above and beyond in their water and stream bank conservation efforts.
Becky Roark: Each year, we look to recognize landowners that are going above and beyond in the Beaver Lake watershed to implement and install conservation practices on their properties. And this year, we recognized several landowners. One of them was Jim and Kathy Rollins with the War Eagle Creek project area.
Jack Travis: And why do you administer this award? What does it symbolize?
Roark: It really symbolizes the partnerships between groups like Beaver Watershed Alliance and landowners and how we’re working together to really reduce sediment and nutrients and keep our water quality high for ultimately Beaver Lake.
Travis: And Jim, you were this year’s recipient. Congratulations on that.
Jim Rollins: Well, it was an honor to be a part of the project. And Becky has said it so well, I think all of the partners are very, very interested in doing what we can do together to make sure we all contribute to the quality of water in Beaver Lake. Beaver Lake is one of the great assets of our northwest region. So many benefit from it, and it’s just good to be a part of something that helps maintain quality water for our entire region.
Travis: And let’s talk about the process that this award is recognizing. It started back in 2016, right? Almost ten years ago, you guys identified this as a thing to work on.
Roark: Sure. So yeah, back in 2016, the alliance partnered with Watershed Conservation Resource Center, another nonprofit group here in northwest Arkansas, to do some studies along streams and stream banks, really looking at the erosion and erosion rates of several stream banks here in northwest Arkansas in the Beaver Lake watershed. And the Rollins property was one of those. So we started the evaluations in 2016 and wrapped those up a year later. And what those studies really showed us was how much sediment was coming from each of those properties we studied. And unfortunately, and sadly, it was I think nearly 4 acres lost from the Rollins property stream bank. So just think what an acre is in northwest Arkansas. That was a huge loss of valuable land, but also a lot of sediment going downstream and into Beaver Lake.
So those studies really helped inform an application to the USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program. It’s a grant, a nationwide competitive grant. And we did partner with Watershed Conservation Resource Center, Beaver Water District, Farm Bureau. Many organizations came together to apply for that. And one of the components was doing this large stream bank restoration on the Rollins property.
So we felt like that really strengthened the application and helped us to get the award, which ended up being a $5 million grant to the War Eagle watershed to help not only the Rollins family, but also many landowners and farmers across that watershed area. So really, those partnerships were just key to helping us leverage and get the funding to help so many farmers and landowners in the area.
Travis: And the work was happening on your property. What was going on over this past decade?
Rollins: Well, it’s been a great partnership, and obviously it took an enormous amount of technical assistance, technical awareness to develop the management plan. And then to see the workers as they began to come forward over the last year or so and the progress that’s been made, the bank has been restored, solidified significantly. And I think it’s our hope that the anticipated benefits that will spring from this will actually occur. And if so, then the progress will be substantial in terms of its impact on the quality of water in our lake. It’s a major step forward, and that can only happen when partnerships are strong with the goal of improvement in mind. That’s been the driving force from the beginning.
And the professionalism of those who have actually done the work has been something to admire. And it continues all the way through to the very end of the project. And it’s our hope that maintenance of great work that’s already been installed will be looked at and evaluated, and continuous progress will be made should that be required.
Travis: But at this moment, we’re looking at nearly 1,500 feet of stream bank restored. Wow. Something that’s sticking out to me about this is that this is a natural process, right? Stream banks are eroded. However, it is almost necessary to monitor and mitigate this erosion. Can you talk about that and why other landowners might want to peak their ears to this interview?
Roark: Sure. There is a natural amount of sediment in all waterways. It’s part of a natural process. Our rivers and creeks have a lot of bedrock in them. Limestone. Even phosphorus and nutrients are natural in our waterways. But when you have too much is when you have a problem. Sediment loss is not only detrimental to farmlands and streamside properties, but that sediment can lead to algae growth and issues downstream and really gets into our water intake for Beaver Water District and our drinking water supplies. And removing that sediment is a very costly thing. So anytime we can reduce the sediment going downstream, it’s also good for all citizens in northwest Arkansas to keep our water quality high and cost-efficient.
Landowners… Really what we key into is that land loss. Going back to just the value of property in northwest Arkansas and the value of those lands for farming, or whatever, it's high value land. And there are resources and people out here to help and grants that we can apply for. There’s over 64,000 parcels of privately owned lands in this watershed area. So landowners really are key to come forward and let us know what your issues and challenges are, and let’s look at what resources are available and how we can pair those and work together like we demonstrated here at the Rollins property.
Travis: I wanted to take a moment because I mean, collaboration is a constant theme throughout this whole interview, this whole process. Can you just talk about how this only happened because of everyone involved, how you couldn't have done it alone?
Rollins: That’s clearly a major undertaking. Officials really at all levels of state and national government have been involved in this. Clearly the local farmer has a role to play. If local farmers see the impact of this kind of issue daily on their properties and understand that through partnerships maybe those issues can be mitigated and improvements can be made that will be long-lasting, it’s a great win for everybody.
It's a great win for the property owner, for sure, but it's also a great benefit to everybody who uses the Great Beaver Lake resource. And we're talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who benefit from great water quality. And the Beaver Lake Alliance works every day to try to make sure that that level of our standard of quality is in place, but it can be improved through projects just like this one. And so all of us need to be learners, approach it with a partnership spirit in mind, and great things can happen.
Roark: Yeah, I'll just add to that. We're so fortunate up here in northwest Arkansas. We have a lot of groups and organizations that can bring that technical expertise, like the Watershed Conservation Resource Center. They have a team of engineers and designers, so they really help to bring that technical piece in. We have our local Farm Bureau that's really helped connect us to the farm community, it's a partner on the project. We have the local conservation districts, their expertise and field expertise on conservation practices and ways that producers can improve their operations. We have all this expertise up here in northwest Arkansas, so anytime we can bring them together on a project, it just really makes it that much better.
Travis: And it seems like everyone wants to work together, too.
Roark: Yes. Yeah. That's great.
Travis: It doesn't seem too competitive. It seems more collaborative. Let's talk about the lasting impact. This project isn't over. And certainly the greater project of mitigating streambank erosion just in general is kind of never over. Could you talk about impact that you foresee it having and where people can go to possibly get this process started on their own property?
Roark: So the RCPP is a five year project, and we have one year left of that. So we actually have a sign up coming up at the end of January. So if any landowners are interested, they can go into their local conservation district office and sign up by Jan. 30th to look at this next year of doing projects.
We are still looking for applications to do small stream bank restoration projects. So if anyone is interested in doing that, there is still funding available to at least get started on the design part, because you have to start with a design and then move into the implementation. Then beyond that, we are looking to renew the War Eagle RCPP project for another five years. So a lot of conversations to have in the future. But we really just encourage landowners to… you know, we can't apply for these grants without an inventory of what's wrong and where the biggest challenges are. So starting with that study and analysis part really is the key component leading to going out and seeking partnerships and funding. So, it really just starts with a phone call or an email to us and we can get started down that path.
Rollins: The whole spirit of the project has been working together, and it's amazing what can happen with people and representatives of the people in all levels recognize the need and prioritize their support for it, etc. This is a major project for us. I think it's a great example of what can happen when priorities are set and resources are directed at an issue, and the improvements then that we know will spring from what's happened. So we would make our property available and welcome people to come and take a look. And hopefully that leads to progress and other areas all up and down, not just the War Eagle, but in all areas where erosion is a major issue.
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