Cooperative Extension Service to host Streets to Streams Watershed Fair
May 20, 2026
By Rebekah Hall
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Fast Facts
- Extension, community partners to host educational watershed event
- Event is June 12 at Extension State Office in Little Rock; register online
- Local nonprofits, agencies, community organizations participating
(668 words)
(Editor’s note: This version replaces the 3rd graf to include additional partners, the 7th graf to include an additional speaker and the 8th graf to clarify Pennington’s quote.)
LITTLE ROCK — Central Arkansas residents can learn more about their local waterways at Streets to Streams: A Watershed Fair, a new event hosted by the Cooperative Extension Service and community partners.
The event will take place 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on June 12 at the Extension State Office at 2301 S. University Ave. in Little Rock. Lunch will be provided, and there is no cost to attend. Register online for the event.
Local nonprofits, state agencies and community partners will teach attendees about watershed dynamics, with a focus on the urban community’s impact on local waterways. Partners include the White Oak Bayou Conservancy, the City of North Little Rock Engineering Department, Central Arkansas Water, Central Arkansas Master Naturalists, Metroplan, Friends of Fourche Creek, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and more.
John Pennington, extension water quality educator for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture, said it’s important to increase awareness about water resources.
“Central Arkansas is a growing region, and it is especially important for a growing region to take extra care of its drinking water, stormwater, waterways and watersheds,” Pennington said. “I am really excited to see the growing interest and demand for water quality programming and watershed management in the region.”
Pennington said this increased interest in watershed management and stewardship among local residents, extension county agents and municipal staff is what sparked the idea for the Streets to Streams event.
Event speakers will include Sandi Formica, executive director of the Watershed Conservation Resource Center; Uta Meyer, senior center manager at the Little Rock Audubon Center; Randy Easley of Lake Conway Point Remove Watershed Alliance; Allen Brown Jr. of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Division; and Reed Green, president of Friends of Fourche Creek.
“Our goal is to provide a watershed event for Central Arkansas that is informative and hands-on, where residents can connect directly with organizations doing important work in Central Arkansas,” Pennington said.
Education for all ages
Families and children are encouraged to attend, said Lyndsey Holloway, engineering inspector for the City of North Little Rock. The event will feature interactive booths and demonstrations on subjects including green infrastructure, local water quality projects, tree planting, invasive plant removal and more.
“We’re casting a wide net for the audience of Streets to Streams,” Holloway said. “We’re exploring partnerships with local summer camps to engage kids in the elementary and middle school range, advertising at senior community centers, and specifically inviting facility maintenance staff from Little Rock, North Little Rock and surrounding municipalities. There’s truly something here for everyone.”
Holloway said educational outreach staff with Central Arkansas Water will lead an interactive demonstration for younger attendees from Project Water Education Today, or WET.
“These hands-on activities are designed to help kids explore concepts in water quality and watershed health through play, making complex environmental science accessible and engaging for elementary and middle school-aged children,” Holloway said.
The Laman Library, part of the North Little Rock Public Library System, will also lend its Virtual Reality headset for the event. The headset will give attendees a chance to virtually step into careers in environmental and land management fields, from heavy equipment operation to natural resource management. Holloway said the headset will be used to let attendees “try on a day-in-the-life of a certain field.”
The event will also feature a volunteer potting booth as part of the Central Arkansas Tree Planting Project, an extension project with the goal of planting 166,000 native trees over the next three years in central Arkansas. Attendees will be able to pot saplings into quart-size containers to take home or contribute to the project.
“The White Oak Bayou Wetlands Conservancy will be running a booth featuring a cornhole game called the ‘Poop Toss,’ as a fun way of highlighting the importance of picking up after pets, as dog waste is classified as a toxic water contaminant by the Environmental Protection Agency,” Holloway said.
For more information about the event, contact John Pennington at jhpennington@uada.edu or Lyndsey Holloway at lholloway@nlr.ar.gov.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit uada.edu. To learn more about ag and food research in Arkansas, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station at aaes.uada.edu.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 22 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
The University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture is an equal opportunity institution. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate or need materials in another format, please contact John Pennington at 870-329-7009 as soon as possible. Dial 711 for Arkansas Relay.
# # #
Media Contact:
Rebekah Hall
rkhall@uada.edu
501-671-2061