Subject: Re: Charlie Craig State Fish Hatchery preservation Date: Monday, February 15, 2021 10:09:47 AM Thanks this will be added to the planning commission comments Thanks Bill Edwards Mayor of Centerton, Arkansas (479) 795-2750 ext 26 > On Feb 15, 2021, at 10:07 AM, Gail Pianalto wrote: > I am writing to request that you reconsider allowing a 495 family apartment complex (sixteen 3-story buildings < and a golf course) to be installed right beside the Charlie Craig State Fish Hatchery. The hatchery is designated an Audubon Important Bird Area and is critical to so many resident and migrating birds! This will decimate it, and our birds already have so few remaining quality habitat. Please do not allow profit to take precedence over preserving this vital bird habitat. > Respectfully, > Leslie Gail Pianalto > > Sent from my iPhone Subject: Charlie Craig Fish Hatchery Date: Monday, February 15, 2021 1:26:37 PM I am alarmed and distressed to read that a 495 unit apartment complex and golf course is planned for development adjacent to the Charlie Craig State Fish Hatchery. The hatchery is a valuable asset to the city of Centerton and is an oasis in a fast developing area. The hatchery is designated an Audubon Important Bird Area and is critical to many resident and migrating birds. The area around it is an important buffer zone that should be protected from development to ensure that birds have habitat to survive and congregate. I am a frequent visitor to the hatchery and, along with many others, realize that this is a valuable attraction for Centerton. To allow development up to the borders of the hatchery would be a great loss. This will decimate the habitat and our birds already have so little remaining quality habitat. I urge you to reconsider approval of this development and to preserve this quality area as a green space that would benefit the citizens of Centerton and attract additional visitors to the area. Thank you, Tom Ress Subject: Re: The Links in Centerton Date: Monday, February 15, 2021 9:30:27 AM Thanks this will be added to the comments for the planning commission to see Thanks Bill Edwards Mayor of Centerton, Arkansas (479) 795-2750 ext 26 On Feb 15, 2021, at 9:22 AM, Sara Wittenberg wrote  I am writing to plead with you to put the brakes on this development. Did you know that the Fish Hatchery is designated an official Audubon Important Bird Area?? And that BirdWatcher’s Digest actually included it in an article they ran last year in their print magazine as a birding hotspot (I couldn’t locate article online, but the location made their site)? As a former graduate student in the University of Arkansas Bio Dept, who worked under two extremely well-known ornithologists, I know the value both locally and nationally for this site – and I am worried that you do not appreciate the very gem right here in our little town of Centerton! The addition of a 16 building apartment complex, and all of the land modification, traffic, runoff, pollution of varying types, will be devastating to this IBA and all of the birds who REQUIRE it to survive – both resident birds who call it home, as well as scores of migratory birds who use it as an important stopover during spring and fall migration to refuel. It would be an honest tragedy to lose this – for birds and humans alike (as well as countless other species that I’ve seen using it in the midst of the concrete jungle we’re creating around them). PLEASE reconsider allowing yet another apartment complex to go up in this sensitive area. Sincerely, Sara Wittenberg Resident of Centerton Wildlife Biologist Sent from Mail for Windows 10 Subject: Fish Hatchery Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2021 9:09:18 PM I am alarmed and distressed to read that a 495 unit apartment complex and golf course is planned for development adjacent to the Charlie Craig State Fish Hatchery. The hatchery is a valuable asset to the city of Centerton and is an oasis in a fast developing area. The hatchery is designated an Audubon Important Bird Area and is critical to many resident and migrating birds. The area around it is an important buffer zone that should be protected from development to ensure that birds have habitat to survive and congregate. I am a frequent visitor to the hatchery and, along with many others, realize that this is a valuable attraction for Centerton. To allow development up to the borders of the hatchery would be a great loss. This will decimate the habitat and our birds already have so little remaining quality habitat. I urge you to reconsider approval of this development and to preserve this quality area as a green space that would benefit the citizens of Centerton and attract additional visitors to the area. Thank you, ROBERTA Ress Sent from my iPhone Subject: The Links at Centerton Date: Thursday, February 18, 2021 10:09:32 AM Mayor Edwards and Commissioners, I encourage you to deny permitting to a huge apartment complex plus golf course across the street from Charlie Craig State Fish Hatchery. The National Audubon Society recognizes the hatchery as an Important Bird Area (IBA), a network of locations around the country that provide critical habitat for significant bird populations. This IBA offers critical waterbird habitat in northwestern Arkansas where little wetland habitat remains. Two-hundred and seventy-two bird species have been recorded there. This includes 37 species of shorebird, including the endangered Piping Plovers during migration, as well as 32 waterfowl species. Wading birds and rails also take advantage of the open water habitat and food supply. Furthermore, many rare, out-of-range species such as Eared Grebe, Snowy Plover, Cinnamon Teal, Prairie Falcon, Say's Phoebe, and Yellow-headed Blackbird have been documented. Therefore, it is no surprise that this is one of the most popular birding spots in the region. Birders visit from across Arkansas and adjacent states, bringing avitourism dollars to the area. Research by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology found that we have lost nearly 3 BILLION birds since 1970 (https://www.3billionbirds.org/). That is one in four birds gone. Projects similar to the Links at Centerton have contributed to the demise in bird populations by replacing critical bird habitat bit by bit. Rapid urban development in the region competes for groundwater resources. Without sufficient water the hatchery could close, losing critical bird habitat forever. A high density urban development and a golf course are water intensive properties. Golf courses, with their intensively managed lawns, will lead to runoff of fertilizers and herbicides into local waterways. More people and more traffic will scare away some sensitive species. More panes of glass on a high-rise overlooking a place where birds gather in large numbers will lead to window collisions and bird deaths. Collisions with glass, which birds can’t see, is one of the biggest sources of bird mortality. I understand the desire to develop the land for revenue generation. Please consider less resource intensive alternatives, which include low density development, greenspace preservation, native plants in landscaping, bird-safe glass requirements, and consideration for the cumulative effects of development on water quality and other natural resources. I’d be happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank you for your consideration. — Dan Scheiman, Ph.D. Bird Conservation Director 501.244.2229 [email protected] Audubon Arkansas 4500 Springer Blvd. Little Rock, AR 72206 ar.audubon.org February 25, 2021 Mayor Edwards and Commissioners, I am writing to you on behalf of the Arkansas Audubon Society, a statewide organization committed to fostering a greater knowledge of the natural history of Arkansas and promoting conservation of natural resources in Arkansas. We encourage you to deny permitting to a huge apartment complex plus golf course across the street from Charlie Craig State Fish Hatchery. Arkansas Audubon Society was established in the decade following that of the hatchery. Individuals from all over the state, including Benton County, were founding members. Starting in the late 1950s, students of birds, both professional and recreational, discovered and documented the important role of Ozark springs in creating habitats used by birds, plus other unique species of plants and animals. The springs are the mother-source of a rich and varied fauna that is irreplaceable. The underground parts of this ecosystem that we cannot readily view have been well-studied. Numerous rare and unusual life forms live there. The impact of building a huge development right on top of spring recharge zones would be enormous. Permitting this to go ahead would be much like ignoring the reasons the hatchery was located where it is, and why. Runoff from the parking for 1,000+ cars at Links at Centerton would be a killer for the recharge zones for underground springs. We don’t see how this could be possibly mitigated. Adding 1,000+ people to the immediate hatchery neighborhood would result in considerable disturbance to the native wild creatures that increasing have no other suitable habitats. After the National Audubon Society established the Important Bird Area program for the U.S., Audubon Arkansas, with support from Arkansas Audubon Society members, studied habitats all over the state potentially suitable for inclusion. Charlie Craig State Fish Hatchery was one of the first included. There is no other place in Northwest Arkansas with such well-documented use by our native birds. Private citizens have now documented almost 300 bird species. Records from the hatchery formed the core of our state’s bird book, Arkansas Birds, which was published by University of Arkansas Press in 1986.