The US Department of Agriculture s (USDA s) Regional

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1 Feature Article In an effort to promote the Environmental Quality Incentives Program as part of the West Fork White River Watershed Initiative, landowners receive one-on-one property visits. Photo courtesy of RA Morgan LLC SANDI J. FORMICA, ROBERT MORGAN, JOHN PENNINGTON, JAMES McCARTY, AND MATT VAN EPS Protecting Northwest Arkansas Drinking Water Through the USDA Regional Conservation Partnership Program AN INITIATIVE WITH MULTIPLE PARTNERS AND COMPONENTS HAS BEEN FUNDED IN PART BY THE US DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE TO IMPROVE AN ARKANSAS WATERSHED AND PROTECT A KEY WATER SUPPLY. The US Department of Agriculture s (USDA s) Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) provides opportunities for utilities to collaborate with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), conservation-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), state agencies, and other partners to protect source waters. Selected for funding in fall 2016, the West Fork White River Watershed Initiative (WFWR Initiative) consists of river restoration projects, implementation of agriculture and forestry best management practices (BMPs), and public outreach in the WFWR watershed, a tributary of northwest Arkansas drinking water source, Beaver Lake. Major conservation projects such as the WFWR Initiative become possible when a foundation of assessment, planning, and successful implementation exists. This initiative stands atop more than 20 years of collaboration by local, state, and national partners striving to protect Beaver Lake. This article reviews the background and efforts leading to the successful RCPP application. 30 FORMICA ET AL. JUNE :6 JOURNAL AWWA

2 DRINKING WATER SOURCE FOR NORTHWEST ARKANSAS Beaver Lake, a 24,000-acre US Army Corps of Engineers reservoir in northwest Arkansas, has been the region s source of drinking water since the 1970s. Today, Beaver Lake provides water to more than 420,000 area residents. Four water providers use Beaver Lake, including Beaver Water District (BWD), Benton and Washington County Rural Water Authority, Carroll-Boone Regional Water District, and Madison County Regional Water District. BWD is the largest of the providers (approximately 80% of the allocation) and distributes water to Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale, and Fayetteville, Ark. Northwest Arkansas, one of the most rapidly growing regions in the United States, is poised to become a top 100 metropolitan area (Northwest Arkansas Council 2017). Because Beaver Lake is the source of drinking water for the region, protecting Beaver Lake is a high priority. During the 1990s, BWD started experiencing annual taste and odor events caused by 2-methylisoborneol, a metabolite from cyanobacteria (Tetra Tech & BWA 2012). The cyanobacteria result from excessive nutrient loading to the lake from nonpoint sources in the watershed. With the introduction of the Stage 2 Disinfectants and Disinfection Byproducts Rule, disinfection byproducts also became a concern. Since 2008, approximately 1,500 acres in the upper end of Beaver Lake have been listed by Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) as impaired for turbidity (ADEQ 2008). Beaver Lake s watershed (Figure 1) consists of roughly 763,000 acres of forest and pasture in the Ozark Highlands ecoregion, with growing urban land use. The watershed consists of six designated sub-watersheds: the West Fork of the White River, the Middle Fork of the White River, Beaver Lake White River, Richland Creek, War Eagle Creek, and White River Headwaters. Approximately 30% of the watershed is pasture lands that support a variety of agricultural activities, including cow calf operations, hay production, and poultry farms. In the early 1990s, BWD began working with local, state, and federal agencies to implement BMPs to reduce the impacts from agriculture and urban lands on Beaver Lake s water quality. Today, that partnership consists of more than 25 public and private entities working in the region. During 2015, the Watershed Conservation Resource Center (WCRC), a nonprofit organization that specializes in watershed assessment and river restoration, approached BWD with the idea of submitting a proposal to the NRCS RCPP that emphasized the reduction of sediment and nutrient loadings in the WFWR watershed. The RCPP, authorized by the Farm Bill, provides an opportunity for local partnerships that include agriculture, water districts, municipalities, NGOs, and others to focus USDA funding on critical issues on the basis of watershed planning and local and regional conservation priorities. THE WFWR INITIATIVE In 2015 the WCRC, BWD, and Beaver Watershed Alliance (BWA), along with other partners, submitted their proposal the WFWR Initiative to the NRCS RCPP. The WFWR Initiative was approved by the NRCS at a total project cost of $8.7 million, including a $4.3 million federal FIGURE 1 West Fork White River Watershed Initiative project location map FORMICA ET AL. JUNE :6 JOURNAL AWWA 31

3 contribution and $4.4 million from local matching funds. The objectives of the WFWR Initiative were to reduce sediment and nutrient loadings and improve aquatic and terrestrial habitats in the watershed by restoring up to 2 mi of unstable river channel and 4 mi of riparian areas, developing 150 conservation-based plans and implementing BMPs on agricultural and forest lands. In addition to the WCRC, the BWD, and BWA, other partners included the Walton Family Foundation, the Arkansas Forestry Commission, the Northwest Arkansas Land Trust, Cities of Fayetteville and West Fork, Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, the Arkansas Farm Bureau, Ozarks Water Watch, the Washington County Conservation District, Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC), Washington County Cooperative Extension Service, and the NRCS as the funding agency. Each partner provided a letter of commitment documenting their support and financial contribution. For every dollar or equivalent in-kind service provided by partners, the RCPP provided up to one dollar toward the project. The WFWR Initiative is the largest nonpoint source-based water quality project to be implemented within the Beaver Lake watershed. The RCPP application process is highly competitive, with less than one-third of applicants receiving funding. The WFWR Initiative was eligible for funding because the project is located within the USDA-designated Mississippi River Basin Critical Conservation Area and addresses priority concerns of water quality degradation, excess nutrients and sediment in surface waters, and fish and wildlife habitat degradation. Factors contributing to successful applications include protecting drinking water sources, including multiple partners, using NRCS programs innovatively, leveraging funds, addressing state conservation priorities, complying with locally led conservation initiatives, and creating the potential for success. Northwest Arkansas, one of the most rapidly growing regions in the Unites States, is poised to become a top 100 metropolitan area. Understanding how the region secured the RCPP funding requires looking at the region s history of watershed management efforts. Three key components of the WFWR Initiative were essential to selection of the project: The project was built on solid science, specifically water quality monitoring, watershed assessment, and watershed planning. The project made innovative use of NRCS programs. The partners and landowners had a strong working relationship and a track record of successful river restoration projects. These three key components are further described in the following sections. Water quality monitoring, watershed assessment and planning, and priorities. Over the prior decades, local water quality monitoring, comprehensive watershed assessments, and stakeholder-led watershed planning in the Beaver Lake watershed supported the need for the WFWR Initiative. Water quality monitoring that began in the 1970s led the ANRC to designate Beaver Lake watershed a priority for nonpoint source pollution management through the US Environmental Protection Agency s Section 319(h) program in Following an ADEQ 1994 water quality study, the WFWR was assessed as not supporting the aquatic life -designated use because of excessive silt loads and high turbidity; subsequently, it was placed on the state s impaired water body (303(d)) list (ADEQ 1998), and it is still classified as an impaired stream today (ADEQ 2016). A total maximum daily load was established in 2006 (FTN Associates 2006). In 1999, the ADEQ received a 319(h) grant from the ANRC to conduct a watershed assessment and evaluate sources of sediment in the WFWR. This comprehensive assessment estimated that 66% of annual sediment loads resulted from accelerated streambank erosion (ADEQ 2004). In 2007, the WCRC received a USDA NRCS Conservation Partnership Initiative (CPI) grant to address accelerated streambank erosion in the WFWR watershed. The WCRC worked with the BWD and other local partners to develop the CPI WFWR Project Plan. Twentynine unstable reaches of river, where pasture and forest lands were being lost to streambank erosion, were identified for restoration and prioritized on the basis of sediment loading, riparian habitat loss, and potential nutrient contributions (Figure 1) (Formica & Van Eps 2010). BWD also participates in a wide range of watershed planning activities. For example, in 2005 the BWD initiated a formal source water protection program. During a three-year period beginning in 2007, BWD teamed up with the Northwest Arkansas Council in a stakeholderdriven process to develop the Beaver Lake Watershed Protection Strategy (BLWPS), a road map for implementing key conservation measures that prevent degradation of water quality (Tetra Tech 2009). The watershed group, BWA, was formed in 2011 to help implement the recommendations of the BLWPS. The BWA brings together representatives from significant interests within 32 FORMICA ET AL. JUNE :6 JOURNAL AWWA

4 the Beaver Lake watershed to implement water quality management projects. It has succeeded in building a positive reputation with landowners and has established a reputation of assisting with implementation of BMPs. In 2016, BWD allocated funding to the source water protection program in the amount of $0.04/1,000 gal sold. This allocation generates roughly $750,000/year for support of the BWA and the implementation of the BLWPS. Innovative use of NRCS programs. To address river instability problems, reduce sediment and nutrient loadings from streambank erosion, and consider additional priorities established in the CPI project plan and other assessments, the WFWR Initiative uses two NRCS programs: PL-566 (a watershed program) and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Most NRCS programs work with single landowners, and large-scale river restoration projects involving several landowners cannot be accomplished with the normal programs. The state NRCS office suggested the PL-566 program as a way to address the unstable reaches of the WFWR while working with multiple landowners. The BWD and WCRC fill the roles of a qualified sponsor required by the PL-566 program. The PL-566 program requires a watershed-based environmental assessment that includes an economic analysis of the recommended solution. This twoyear process has to be completed and approved before any construction begins. The WCRC is responsible for the PL-566 component and is working with landowners to achieve voluntary participation along the highest-priority reach. Restoration of this single reach is estimated to result in a 25% reduction in the total sediment load from streambank erosion in the WFWR watershed. The EQIP portion of the project provides the infrastructure for BMP implementation and conservation plan development. Through the WFWR Initiative, the EQIP BMP implementation is focused on a 40 mi 2 project area (Figure 1). This focus provides more intensive use of BMPs than traditional EQIP funding, which is generally on a countyscale basis in Arkansas. The BWA is responsible for contacting landowners and informing them about the WFWR Initiative, with a focus on promoting the EQIP through project newsletters, workshops, and one-on-one property visits (shown in the opening photograph on page 30). The BWA has established a close partnership with the WCRC and NRCS, and it has an extensive track record of working with landowners to rapidly accelerate BMP adoption and increase conservation knowledge. During the first year of the RCPP, more than 500 people participated in workshops and other activities, and 49 property visits were conducted. By combining the PL-566 program and EQIP, the WCRC and BWA will work with multiple landowners to apply natural channel design techniques to large sections of unstable river in conjunction with implementation of conservation practices on agricultural and forest lands throughout the project area. Watershed assessment data indicate that implementation of the WFWR Initiative will result in an estimated reduction of sediment and phosphorus loads into the Beaver Lake watershed of 3,000 to 7,000 tons and 1,500 to 3,500 lb, respectively, on an annual basis; protection of regional sources of drinking water and assistance with addressing the impairment designation of the WFWR; and re-establishment of healthy ecosystems that protect agricultural lands and provide essential habitat for wildlife and fisheries. History of strong partnerships and successful projects. Fourteen partners agreed to support and participate in the WFWR Initiative. Twelve The WFWR Initiative is the largest nonpoint source-based water quality project to be implemented within the Beaver Lake watershed. partners contributed cash and/or inkind services as matching funds against the federal funds provided through the RCPP. Bringing multiple partners together requires an understanding of how they share conservation and water quality protection goals. In this case, the partners already had a history of cooperation, and the BWD, local NGOs, watershed groups, and local and state government understood the importance of river restoration in protecting the drinking water source by reducing sediment and nutrient loadings to streams. Improving aquatic habitat, streambed features, terrestrial habitat, recreational opportunities, and overall quality of life are motivational drivers for locally based private foundations and communities. Protecting pasture and forest lands is a priority for landowners, while protection of parks and infrastructure can save municipalities and governments millions of dollars. Welldesigned stream restoration projects can address all of these concerns under the umbrella of a single project (Figure 2). The WCRC, along with the BWA, BWD, and the Walton Family Foundation, are key partners in two areas: first, in leveraging federal funding to construct and maintain FORMICA ET AL. JUNE :6 JOURNAL AWWA 33

5 large-scale river restoration projects; second, in implementing the WFWR Initiative. BWD provided 27%, and the foundation provided 45% of the matching funds. Because partner funding must be committed as part of the RCPP s full proposal application, it was necessary to start planning and designing the WFWR Initiative one full year before the deadline for the RCPP proposal. The BWA had experience in environmental outreach and had already gained the trust of WFWR landowners through a recent BMP opportunity assessment it had conducted. The WCRC, as project lead, had an established history of managing projects of this magnitude and the expertise to design and oversee the river restoration. The WCRC has worked with BWD, the Walton Family Foundation, the City of Fayetteville, the BWA, and other partners on implementing and maintaining several river restoration projects in northwest Arkansas for more than a decade. These projects have been successful, and every year they prevent thousands of tons of sediment and thousands of pounds of phosphorus from entering streams in the Beaver Reservoir watershed. The WCRC uses natural channel FIGURE 2 Restoration on the White River in the Beaver Lake watershed A B C D The Watershed Conservation Resource Center (WCRC) partnered with the City of Fayetteville, Ark., Beaver Water District, CH2M, the Arkansas Natural Resource Commission, and the US Environmental Protection Agency on this restoration project. The WCRC continues to maintain the site, with support from the City of Fayetteville. Shown here: (A) river view of the 16 ft-high cut bank before restoration; (B) before restoration at the upstream end of the project; (C) one month after project construction in 2012; (D) five years (2016) after completion of the project. 34 FORMICA ET AL. JUNE :6 JOURNAL AWWA

6 design principles to develop restoration designs that restore channel and riparian areas, and the WCRC maintains these sites for a minimum of five years (Figure 2). Even after catastrophic flooding, these restoration sites are capably protecting valuable lands and infrastructure. SUMMARY Funded through the USDA RCPP, the WFWR Initiative will reduce sediments and nutrients reaching Beaver Reservoir, which in turn will help achieve goals prescribed in the BLWPS. The main purpose of this strategy is to protect water quality, which will ensure a continued supply of safe drinking water for the growing region. The success of the WFWR Initiative relies on the support of its partner organizations. This is one of the reasons for the long-term project sponsorship required by PL-566. The BWD, BWA, and WCRC have a proven ability and established credibility to ensure the project s success. Every watershed endeavor has to stand on its own merit, and this case study does not constitute a recipe for success in achieving Farm Bill funding. The success of this project and future funding applications will continue to be contingent on the use of solid science, innovative use of funding programs, and strong partnerships with a history of water quality achievements. Finally, programs such as this would not be possible if it were not for the continued funding of the federal Farm Bill. Funding for both the EQIP and PL-566 is administered through the NRCS, and continuation of these programs is contingent on future authorizations from Congress. In the end, agriculture has a large part to play in water quality, and Farm Bill programs are the most effective mechanism for reaching out to agricultural producers. It is important to prioritize programs such as the RCPP to support the continued protection and improvement of drinking water sources. ABOUT THE AUTHORS Sandi J. Formica (to whom correspondence may be addressed) is executive director and cofounder of the Watershed Conservation Resource Center (WCRC), 380 W. Rock St., Fayetteville, AR USA; formica@watershedconservation.org. She has BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Arkansas, with an emphasis on the transport of contaminants in the water, soil, and air. She oversees and manages the WCRC, an environmental nonprofit organization (founded in 2004) and is responsible for project development, design, and management, providing technical oversight and support, grant development, and implementation of watershedbased projects. Formica is a regional expert in watershed assessment and planning, river stability, and stream restoration design, implementation, and maintenance. Robert Morgan is president of RA Morgan LLC in Springdale, Ark. John Pennington is a consultant with the Beaver Watershed Alliance in Fayetteville, Ark. James McCarty is manager of environmental quality for the Beaver Water District in Lowell, Ark. Matt Van Eps is associate director with the WCRC. REFERENCES ADEQ (Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality), Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Report. Prepared pursuant to Sections 305(b) and 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. ADEQ Water Division, Little Rock, Ark. ADEQ, Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Report. Prepared pursuant to Sections 305(b) and 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. ADEQ Water Division, Little Rock, Ark. ADEQ, West Fork White River Watershed, Data Inventory and Nonpoint Source Pollution Assessment. Prepared by the ADEQ Environmental Preservation Division for the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission. state.ar.us/water/planning/pdfs/west_ fork_white_river_watershed.pdf (accessed Dec. 13, 2017). ADEQ, Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Report. Prepared pursuant to Sections 305(b) and 303(d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. ADEQ Water Division, Little Rock, Ark. Formica, S.J. & Van Eps, M.A., West Fork White River Watershed Restoration of Priority Stream Reaches Project Plan. Watershed Conservation Resource Center, Fayetteville, Ark. FTN Associates, TMDLS for Turbidity for White River and West Fork White River, AR. FTN Associates Ltd., Little Rock, Ark. Northwest Arkansas Council, Northwest Arkansas Poised to Be Top 100 MSA. 3/23/analysis-nw-arkansas-to-make-top- 100-in Last accessed Dec. 13, Tetra Tech, Beaver Lake Watershed Protection Strategy. Tetra Tech, Research Triangle Park, N.C. Tetra Tech & BWA, Beaver Lake Watershed Protection Strategy. May 2012 Revision. Tetra Tech, Research Triangle Park, N.C. Updated by Beaver Watershed Alliance, Springdale, Ark. AWWA RESOURCES Protecting Drinking Water at the Source: Lessons From US Watershed Investment Programs. Gartner, T.; DiFrancesco, K.; Ozment, S.; Huber-Stearns, H.; Lichten, N.; & Tognetti, S., Journal AWWA, 109:4:30. Product No. JAW_ Eco Logic From the Nature Conservancy Our Forefathers Legacy: Watershed Degradation and the Right to Reverse It. Murphy, J., Journal AWWA, 100:10:56. Product No. JAW_ Current Issues The Piasa Creek Watershed Project: Cleaning up the Muddy Mississippi. LeChevallier, M.W., Journal AWWA, 97:12:30. Product No. JAW_ These resources have been supplied by Journal AWWA staff. For information on these and other AWWA resources, visit FORMICA ET AL. JUNE :6 JOURNAL AWWA 35