FAYETTEVILLE — A white great egret leisurely moved among clusters of American lotus on the water at the West Fork of the White River on Thursday morning near Dead Horse Mountain Road.

A protective mother wood duck looked over her ducklings. Beavers worked on their lodges. The sounds of insects emerged from the trees and filled the air.

The significant amount of work involved to conserve acres and acres of land escapes the inhabitants of the West Fork of the White River.

At least 135 species of fauna and untold types of flora call the West Fork home and will continue to do so in perpetuity thanks to the efforts of the local Watershed Conservation Resource Center and its partners. The center specializes in river restoration and watershed management.

For the last few years, the center and its partners have worked to conserve more than 460 contiguous acres along the river running through the city. They’ve repaired riparian corridors, restored wetlands and prairies and held controlled burns to improve water quality, to dissipate flooding and to help wildlife thrive.

The project is part of a larger effort to create a regional water “trail” from the Brentwood community south of West Fork to Arkansas 45 in Goshen. The water trail, also known as a Blueway, spans 32 miles along the river.

The center and the city own 98 acres at the West Fork near Dead Horse Mountain Road, south of Huntsville Road, that once served as a construction dumping site. The center, city and Beaver Water District jointly own another 220 or so adjacent acres on the other side of the river. Combined with the city’s two parks at the West Fork — Combs and White River parks — more than 460 acres will be conserved in perpetuity.

The land acquisitions are intended to promote conservation, water quality and public recreation in the area, said Sandi Formica, the center’s executive director.

“All of this has taken a lot of time and coordination,” she said.

Larry Aggus, owner of Southtown Sporting Goods on College Avenue, said he could see lots of opportunities for recreation and conservation along the river. Trails could get more people to hike, and restoring the water’s flow could get more people out fishing, he said.

The only concern Aggus said he had is that the water can be pretty limited seasonally. The forks along the White River tend to dry up in summer, but removing the dam and taking other measures could make the water accessible more often for kayaking and fishing, he said.

“With the population growth, any way you can make a good place for people to get out and get away from it all is a good thing,” he said.

The city plans to turn the portions of the West Fork along Combs and White River parks into a paddle park area after removing the dam there. The Army Corps of Engineers has given permission for the dam to be removed and water to be restored.

The city in 2019 agreed to partner with the resource center to buy the 98 acres from late developer Gary Combs. The city put in $150,000, and the resource center contributed $100,000 toward the $250,000 asking price. The center plans to make the site the future home of the River Commons and Institute, an ecological education center. A single pile of construction debris remains at the site. The cleaned-up area now serves as home to a hoop house growing the native grasses and vegetation being planted along the water’s edge.

The city plans to turn the portions of the West Fork along Combs and White River parks into a paddle park area after removing the dam there. The Army Corps of Engineers has given permission for the dam to be removed and water to be restored.

Parks staff have collected resident feedback on the amenities they’d like to see and plan to get more input this fall, said Alison Jumper, the city’s director of parks, natural resources and cultural affairs. A plan for the paddle park should be ready by the end of the year, she said.

The additional 220-plus acres the center acquired with Beaver Water District through an agreement with the city. The city provided more than $1.4 million in federal pandemic-era American Rescue Plan money to put toward purchase and restoration of the land from Mel Collier, whose family owns Collier Drug Stores.

The land is mostly a hay field now. Northwest Arkansas recently was awarded more than $36 million from the federal Environmental Protection Agency for pollution-reducing projects. About $4.2 million of the total will go toward restoring the hay field as wetlands and natural trail work.

Another $4.8 million of the federal grant is dedicated to restoring the stream channel and riparian area along Town Branch in south Fayetteville, and an additional $2 million is planned for natural trails and prairie, stream and riparian restoration on land owned by the University of Arkansas, also in the south part of the city.

The center is awaiting word on whether it will be awarded a $4.6 million state grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to remove the dam at the city’s parks and restore that portion of the river. The grant would require a 25% match provided by the city, coming to just more than $1.1 million.

Portions of the Blueway are already complete. The route starts at the Brentwood community rest stop south of the city of West Fork, runs through West Fork and Greenland, to the proposed paddle park and conservation areas in Fayetteville and ends at the Arkansas 45 boat ramp in Goshen.

Greenland has about 50 acres along the river under conservation that will be developed to grow outdoor use, Mayor Jim Renfrow said. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission placed an access road to the river with a parking lot and kayak entrance for public access to the river, he said.