Press Release | Fayetteville Community Wildlife Habitat Project

For Immediate Release

November 2, 2010

Contact: Lindsley Smith
Communication Director
479-575-8328
[email protected]

Fayetteville Community Wildlife Habitat Project™

The City of Fayetteville’s Environmental Action Committee, in partnership with the Fayetteville Natural Heritage Association, announces that it has recently registered its Community Wildlife Habitat Project with the National Wildlife Federation, taking the first major step toward the goal of making Fayetteville the first Certified Community Wildlife Habitat in the state of Arkansas. To date, forty-six communities throughout the United States have been certified through the National Wildlife Federation, and Fayetteville is working to become part of this distinguished group.

On September 7, 2010, the Fayetteville City Council voted to pass a resolution authorizing and supporting this initiative. In addition, Mayor Lioneld Jordan wrote a letter of support and was one of the first residences to certify his property as a wildlife habitat area, setting an example for other citizens to follow.

A Community Wildlife Habitat is a community that provides for wildlife throughout the community; in individual yards, on school grounds, public areas such as parks and trails, community gardens, places of worship and businesses. Each certified area provides wildlife with food, water, places for cover and nesting sites, and employs green landscaping practices.

The Paul R. Noland Waste Water Treatment Facility, operated by the CH2M HILL Operations and Management Business Group, has recently become one of the first businesses to provide for wildlife and certify their property. CH2M HILL also provided the graphic services to help complete and print the first 3,000 brochures for the project. On Friday, November 5th at 1:00 p.m, Mayor Jordan will be at the Paul R. Noland Waste Water Treatment Plant to take photos at the site and answer questions about the initiative. John Coleman, City of Fayetteville Sustainability Director and EAC Project Leader, and Terri Lane will also be present. Please come on out to the Noland Waste Water Treatment Plant this Friday at 1 p.m. to join us!

To be recognized as a Community Wildlife Habitat, Fayetteville must certify the required amount of properties, which includes a minimum of 200 homes, along with meeting other education and community goals. Further, the Environmental Action Committee has set a goal of certifying 5 Schoolyard Habitats, 30 businesses, 5 places of worship, and 25 parks and trails within the first year of this initiative. For more detailed information, please contact Terri Lane at 479-966-4780 (home) or 479-601-6646 (cell) or [email protected].

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