CAVE SPRINGS -- About a dozen volunteers gathered Saturday at the Watershed Sanctuary to learn about upcoming projects and how they could be involved.
The Illinois River Watershed Partnership hosted a Volunteer Training Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Watershed Sanctuary is on east side of Main Street, while the partnership office and its future learning center is on the west side of Main Street.
By the Numbers
The Watershed
The Illinois River Watershed:
• Includes more than 20 cities
• Covers seven counties
• Covers 1.1 million acres
• Is 1,700 square miles
• Includes more than 400,000 Oklahoma and Arkansas residents
For more information about the watershed or how to volunteer, visit www.irwp.org
Source: Staff Report
The organization's staff presented information about projects before taking the group on a tour of its future learning center and the sanctuary.
The partnership's mission is to preserve, protect and restore the watershed land, which stretches 1.1 million acres in Northwest Arkansas into Oklahoma, said Lauren Ray, education outreach coordinator.
The Watershed Sanctuary is the organization's largest education project, she said.
The 32-acre site the sanctuary is on used to be Lake Keith Resort from the 1950s into the 1980s, Ray said. The resort drew people in from around the area. Once it closed, it sat stagnant until the partnership bought it in September 2012 with help from the Walton Family Foundation, corporate partners and individual donors.
It was bought with "the vision to convert this into a watershed preserve and outdoor education facility," Ray said.
It will also be a place where low-impact development projects and green infrastructure could be demonstrated, she added.
The sanctuary will sport a pavilion, a fishing pier and hiking trails once the project is complete.
"There's so much to be learned about the Illinois River Watershed on this site," Ray said. "We'll have signs all around on the trails, teaching visitors about the endangered species, about water quality, about ways the can make a positive impact on our watershed."
The 6-acre lake was drained because the control gate wasn't functioning properly. The lake should be filled by the summer, Ray said.
The cave on the eastern side of the property won't be open to the public as it's the home of two endangered species: the grey bat and Ozark fish. There are only about 2.3 million grey bats remaining in the southeastern United States. There are only 300 Ozark fish left, according to Ray.
The partnership bought what used to be Lakeview Baptist Church in January and is in the process of turning it into a Watershed Learning Center.
There will a simulated spring cave and winter cave for children to explore. There will also be classrooms and offices in the back and downstairs, Executive Director Delia Haak explained to the volunteers during a tour.
"This will be part of the experience, and we want it to be very interactive for the kids," she said.
The sanctuary and learning center is scheduled to open in 2015, Haak said. The goal is to also have programming six days a week, she added.
"It's such a great example of how a watershed works," she said of the land that holds the cave and lake.
James and Patty Outlaw of Lowell were two of the attendees Saturday. James was interested in coming because he's a native of the area and remembers exploring its land while growing up, he said.
Patty is studying to be a master naturalist and said she loves nature.
"I just love nature and want to know more about it," she said. "We're losing so much of it because of all the growth. The more you know, the better it is."
In regard to the Watershed Sanctuary project, Patty said: "It's been empty too long. It needs to be used."
NW News on 03/30/2014