Why Choose Native Plants?

Natives plants provide important habitat
Gardening with native plants provides habitat for pollinators, including butterflies, moths, bees, birds, flies and beetles. Pollinator populations are declining and it’s important to provide nectar and host plant sources wherever possible on the landscape to help maintain and boost populations. Just one or two native milkweeds in a garden, for instance, can provide a place for monarch butterflies to lay their eggs. Native wildlife evolved with native plants and rely on them for food, shelter and as host plants for breeding.

Natives plants require less maintenance
After they are established, native plants require less maintenance, which saves time and money! They have extensive root systems that can reach deeper than 15 feet. These deep root systems help stabilize the soil, reduce erosion and increase the soil’s capacity to store water.

Natives also are adapted to the local climate, which results in less watering (though plants may need frequent watering during the first year to become established and during drought). Natives also are locally adapted to drier sites with “poorer” soils so they do not need to be fertilized.

Establishing a Garden

Sunlight: Determine how many hours a day the garden area has full sun. This will help with the decision to use full-sun, part-sun or shade plants. A garden site is considered full sun as long as it gets at least six full hours of direct sunlight on most days. Plant shade plants in areas that receive less than three hours of direct sun per day.

Water: Is the soil usually wet, dry or somewhere in between? Some plants don’t like to get their feet wet, so pick plants whose moisture preferences match the garden.

Soil: Good soil is literally the foundation of a healthy and productive garden. Most plants will thrive in moist but well-drained soil. With clay or sandy soils, compost may be used to help make the garden amenable to planting.

Spacing: Planting at least three of the same flowers together is helpful for butterflies because of how their vision works. Butterflies nectar at different heights, so vary the plants to include those that are low, medium and taller. It is better to plant swaths of color than to have a lot of single plants.

Bare Ground: Consider leaving a small spot of ground bare for nesting bees. A muddy spot in the garden allows butterflies to “puddle,” which means drawing minerals from the soil.

Chemicals: Avoid using broad-spectrum herbicides or insecticides in the garden. Herbicides intended for “weeds” can drift and harm nearby plants. Insecticides are not selective. If they are applied to get rid of one species (aphids, for instance), they will affect all of the insects in the treated area negatively. If they are systemic insecticides, they could be absorbed by plants and harm nontarget insects that eat them. Remember, it’s a good thing if plants are being eaten! It means that the garden is part of the ecosystem and those garden “pests” could be food for birds and other insects.

Choosing Plants

When choosing plants, consider adding a variety of species that bloom from spring through fall. This will ensure that nectar, pollen and seed resources are available throughout the year. Selecting early- and late-blooming plants is especially important for native pollinators. Native bees are some of the first to emerge in early spring, and migrating monarchs rely on fall-blooming nectar plants to fuel their migration. The greater the variety of plants, the more diversity wildlife will benefit. Planting just a few native plants is worthwhile!

Arkansas Flowers

Arkansas Shrubs and Trees

Key

Light Needs:

• Sun: An area that receives at least six hours of more of direct, mid-day sun, includes the south or west side of buildings and trees.
• Part shade: Includes areas with dappled sunlight and bright areas underneath trees; i.e. open sky not directly overhead.
• Sun to light shade: Includes area conditions listed for sun plus the east and north sides of buildings and trees where plants have considerable open sky overhead.
• Shade: Dappled to dense shade; areas that receive morning and evening sun in summer; areas on north sides of buildings and underneath trees.

Benefits:

• Bees (B)
• Butterflies (Bu)
• Moths (M)
• Hummingbirds (H)

Water Needs:

• High (H)
• Medium (M)
• Low (L)

Plant Sources

One challenge when choosing natives is that they are not as readily available as non-natives. Arkansas has a handful of nurseries that offer native plants, and there are numerous plant sales that offer native species held throughout the state each year.

Plant Sales

Master Gardener chapters are in almost every county. Most groups host a plant sale, typically in spring (April/May), and many offer native plants.

• Click here to see a list of events.
• Local chapters of the Arkansas Master Naturalists have plant sales each year. Follow the local chapter on Facebook for more information.
• Audubon Arkansas hosts native plant sales each year at the end of April and in October. Click here to see a list of events.
• Compton Gardens in Northwest Arkansas has a sale each April. Click here to visit their site.

Demonstration Gardens

Need inspiration to get started? There are many demonstration gardens across the state. Try a local state park (Pinnacle Mountain, Hobbs, Mount Magazine), Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Nature Centers (Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center in Little Rock, Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center in Fort Smith) or the local library.

More than 90,000 miles of streams lace The Natural State, from the mighty Arkansas River to small creeks you can jump across. These rivers, streams, bayous, creeks and springs provide millions of hours of recreational activity, millions of gallons of drinking water, water for irrigation and industry, and millions of dollars of income to the state and its citizens.

Unfortunately, we’ve hurt the quality of many waterways. We’ve lost thousands of miles of free-flowing, natural streams to damming, industrial and agricultural pollution and other activities. Recent studies indicate we’ve lost more than 25 percent of the state’s smallmouth bass streams this century.

The Stream Habitat program enables concerned citizens to become involved in stream and watershed conservation. Efforts revolve around three primary aspects of stream conservation: education, advocacy and stewardship.

Education Programs and Workshops

Stream Habitat Coordinators provide information to increase understanding and appreciation of Arkansas stream systems. Volunteers receive training in water-quality monitoring, riparian area management, fish and wildlife habitat improvements, best management practices and streambank maintenance and restoration techniques.

Our Coordinators are willing to work with you and your group to develop an appropriate educational program or workshop. We have worked with kindergarten classes up through senior citizens. These programs and workshops can vary in length from a 30-minute crash course to a multiple day event.

• Understanding Streams (discusses hydrology, stream dynamics, and aquatic ecosystems.)
• Macroinvertebrate Identification and what they tell us about Water Quality
• Water Chemistry (Chemical analysis training for streams, and parameters for the different ecoregions.)
• Streambank Restoration Techniques and Sediment Reduction
• The Importance of Riparian Areas and Best Management Practices (BMPs)
• How to correctly Plant a Tree
• Advocacy Workshop
• Fish Identification
• Herpetology (Reptiles and Amphibians) Workshop
• Mussel Workshop
• Stream Team Data Management, Analysis and Reporting
• Arkansas Water Law and Policy

For more information, please contact your Stream Habitat Coordinator.

Advocacy

One of the missions of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Stream Habitat Program is to promote aquatic conservation through advocacy. Localized ‘Stream Teams’ are often comprised of citizens with first-hand knowledge of problems, needs, and solutions; and are better equipped to weigh both sides of a stream issue and speak out on behalf of Arkansas rivers and streams. This tool kit will provide basic information on identifying your audience, developing your advocacy message, different types of communication, and communication templates.

Stewardship

The Stream Habitat program helps landowners and stream users plan and carry out projects by matching them with the appropriate agency or ongoing organizational efforts. Litter control, streambank stabilization, streamside tree plantings, improvement of fish and wildlife habitat, water-quality monitoring and other special projects are all possible. Working with landowners, volunteers have repaired hundreds of miles of eroding streambanks, monitored water quality on thousands of miles of streams and have picked up tons of litter.

Stream Habitat program members can adopt a stream, determine its current situation and plan a project based on their initial survey. This is done with the landowner’s approval and technical assistance from program sponsors. Projects can include litter pick-ups, water-quality monitoring, streambank erosion control, watershed improvement and more. Your imagination is the only limitation.

If you would like to learn more about the Stream Habitat Program, or if you would like to receive assistance in implementing habitat improvements on your private land, click here to register. 

Streambank and Aquatic Habitat Improvements

Sediment is the number one pollutant in Arkansas and the United States. With over 90,000 miles of flowing water in Arkansas, the number of possible streambanks with erosion problems can cause significant problems to our aquatic resources. The Arkansas Stream Team Program assists landowners in developing an appropriate course of action to restore and stabilize eroding streambanks, and will assist with the process of navigating appropriate funding sources and necessary permitting.

Projects can include litter pick-ups, water quality monitoring, native riparian tree and shrub planting, streambank restoration, and watershed improvement.

Funding for Private Landowners

There are several funding opportunities designed to assist landowners in restoring in-stream habitat and eroding streambanks. We suggest contacting your local Stream Habitat Coordinator and the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) to determine which is appropriate for you. Here is a short list of some commonly utilized funding sources.

Permitting

Most streambank and instream habitat restoration projects will require several Clean Water Act permits from state and federal agencies. The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment’s Division of Environmental Quality will review and approve authorization of Section 401 Clean Water Act permits prior to issuance of federal permits and licenses to ensure that proposed projects will not violate state water quality standards. The decision to issue a Section 401 water quality certification rests with the DEQ director and is based on compliance with APC&EC Regulation 2, Establishing Water Quality Standards for Surface Waters of the State of Arkansas.

The United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for the issuance of 404 Permits. Section 404 of the Clean Water Act established this permitting program to control the discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the U.S. This also includes utility crossings. This permit is often called a “dredge and fill” permit and it does not absolve the permittee of responsibility towards other regulations. The federal 404 permit states that the permittee must use best management practices to avoid water quality violations. To find out more information, please visit DEQ’s website.

This authorization is required for any instream activities that may violate Arkansas water quality criteria. Obtaining permits is the responsibility of the applicant. The state of Arkansas is divided between three different Corps of Engineers districts:

• Little Rock District is responsible for the southern third of Missouri and most of Arkansas.
• Vicksburg District is responsible for most of southern Arkansas.
• Memphis District is responsible for a portion of eastern Arkansas.

To determine what district you are in, visit the USACE website and click on Arkansas map under Regulatory Boundaries. Then contact the appropriate district via permit manager by state to apply for a permit.

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