ROGERS — Residents and nonresidents will have an opportunity today to voice opinions about a proposed Lake Atalanta renovation plan.
A group of Rogers and Fayetteville residents has requested more studies be done, and the plants, insects and animals living in the park be protected from overdeveloping Lake Atalanta, the surrounding park and two properties to be connected to the park by trails.
Holly Childs, a Fayetteville resident, emailed Greg Hines, mayor, last week stating her concern that too many bike trails in the park will make it unsafe and unattractive for birds, and would wreak havoc with plant life.
“I’m very concerned about the natural ecology of the lake,” Childs said Monday. “I don’t know much about ecology of the park and the lake. I rely on others who are knowledgeable about such things for information. I believe the bike trails will create a major risk to the ecology.”
Childs said she is an amateur birder, but doesn’t visit Lake Atalanta as often as she would like.
“I only go about once a year, but I’m interested in what may happen if the proposed renovation plan is used,” Childs said.
Jane Steinkraus, a Fayetteville resident, said she is a biologist, hiker and birder who visits Lake Atalanta once or twice a year, usually in the spring when birds are migrating.
“Lake Atalanta Park contains natural areas which are beautiful, diverse and valuable to the people and wildlife of Northwest Arkansas,” Steinkraus wrote in an email to Hines. “Migrating birds need the insects and plants when they stop in Rogers. Everything is connected, if you don’t have the plants, you won’t have the insects and you won’t have the birds.”
She opposes bike trails at Lake Atalanta.
“Mountain bikes put a burden on hillsides and springs, which will cause erosion, soil compression, root damage and habitat fragmentation,” Steinkraus said.
She attached a copy of an alternate renovation plan, created up Joe Neal, a retired biologist living in Fayetteville.
“I would like the city council to give Joe’s plan a careful review before proceeding with the renovation project,” she said.
Neal’s five-page plan calls for protecting the history of Lake Atalanta as well as the ecology of the park.
“The problem I see is the city doesn’t have a vision for what the park could be,” Neal said Monday.
In his plan, Neal writes that the mountain bike trail design plan is “fatally” flawed on the Fleming property and in Frisco Springs Hollow.
Trail use could cause intensive stormwater flow which could cause erosion and collapse of banks, he wrote regarding the Fleming property trail.
The Frisco Springs Hollow trail, as designed, would cross numerous springs and other karst features which in turn would damage native plants and other wildlife, he wrote.
Meeting Information
Lake Atalanta Renovation
A public meeting on renovation plans at Lake Atalanta is scheduled for 5 p.m. today in the City Hall lobby, 301 W. Chestnut St.
“They want to build bike trails where trails shouldn’t be. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against mountain bikes, I have one myself, but what the city is doing will be harmful to the existing ecology,” Neal said.
He wants officials to hire a local professional fisheries biologist to design a dredging plan. He wrote that the sediment removed from the lake should be transported outside the park.
“I think the park can be renovated to keep all the things it has now and add new features, but the city isn’t thinking about what’s out there and how it can be used to attract more people to the park,” he added.
Officials are reviewing a plan that would use some of the sediment removed from the lake to shore up eroded banks and deposit some of the material on property near the lake.
City officials said the majority of the proposed renovations have been vetted by professionals, and the dredging must meet U.S. Army Corps of Engineers specifications.
“We given anyone who is interested in the project an opportunity to have input,” Hines said. “We will do so again (today). We have complied a list of suggestions and will give every suggestion a careful review.”