Support the Illinois River Watershed Partnership and enjoy an evening of community at the ballpark as the Naturals take on the Frisco RoughRiders.

Half of the proceeds from ticket sales go directly to IRWP's mission to improve the integrity of the Illinois River. All tickets sold through IRWP will be seated together, so you can mingle with our staff and enjoy time networking with other partner organizations. Submit the form below, and we will reach out to collect payment for the tickets. Pick up your tickets from the IRWP office by appointment or at will call on game day. Don't miss this chance to support a great cause and enjoy a night to remember!

Gates open at 6:00 pm and the first pitch is thrown at 7:05 pm.

$12 each for 1-3 tickets

$10 each for 3+ tickets

REGISTRATION IS CLOSED! THIS IS A SOLD OUT EVENT!

We are thrilled to announce that the Bats and Bluegrass Festival is officially sold out! Your incredible support means the world to us. Don't miss out on early announcements for Bats and Bluegrass Festival 2025—sign up for our newsletter today!.

Save the Date for Bats and Bluegrass at the Watershed Sanctuary in Cave Springs. Join us for a day filled with fun activities, delicious food and smells from food trucks, creative flora and fauna-themed face painting, live bluegrass music, engaging educational booths and stations, an exciting scavenger hunt, and the spectacular sight of bats emerging from Cave Springs Cave!

Donation Details

• Entry: $10 per person, $30 per family

• Donation package for donors giving $50+

• Support our fundraising goals and promote awareness of IRWP

  .LET US KNOW YOU ARE COMING

  Register Below

Event Schedule:

• 4:30 PM - 8:00 PM: Food Trucks Open

• 5:30 PM: First Round of Sessions Begins

• 6:30 PM: Second Round of Sessions Begins

• 7:15 PM: Programming Begins @ Music Tent

• 7:30 PM: Greenland Station Bluegrass

• 9:00 PM: Dusk, Close

Breakout Sessions: (Workshops are repeated at 5:30 PM and 6:30 PM)

Workshop 1: Ozark Music History with Charley Sandage, Bluegrass Historian

• Meeting point: Registration Table, to walk across the street; session is in the Watershed Learning Center

• Leader: Sarah Alvey

Workshop 2: Nature Hike with Annie Sales, IRWP Green Infrastructure Program Manager

• Meeting point: Music Tent

• Leader: Annie

Workshop 3: Caving Demonstration with Boston Mountain Grotto

• Meeting point: Boston Mountain Grotto’s Tent Near Cave Entrance

• Leader: Corey Maize

Workshop 4: Nature Journaling with Morgan Keeling, IRWP Associate Director

• Meeting point: Green Roof Pavilion

• Leader: Morgan

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Division, in partnership with the Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC), has scheduled the final public meetings to update the watershed-based management plan for the Illinois River Watershed.

The Illinois River and its tributaries have a variety of uses set forth by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, including fisheries, recreation, drinking water supply, and agricultural and industrial water supply. The goal of this watershed-based plan is to protect and improve water quality in streams and other waterbodies by addressing non-regulatory issues through voluntary activities or practices.

This is in-person and virtual. Call-in details: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81769907371?pwd=JeYsLLjaDXkPWr05AvRoMLsAPNvKZP.1 Meeting ID: 817 6990 7371, Passcode: 474269

“We greatly appreciate the overwhelming turnout of nearly 100 stakeholders for the third meeting in August,” said Tate Wentz, Arkansas Natural Resources Division Water Quality Section Manager. “The final meetings will focus on review of the watershed-based management process, watershed modeling results, and anticipated outcomes of conservation practice implementation. We will continue to accept input from stakeholders about conservation practices, so it is critical for anyone interested to attend and share input to guide resource allocations to improve water quality into the future.”

The meetings are open to the public and representatives from Arkansas and Oklahoma will provide an overview of the watershed management planning process. Stakeholders will hear from representatives on water quality model outputs and conservation practices to improve local water quality.

The meetings are set for June 25, 2024, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Tahlequah, Oklahoma at the Armory at 100 North Water Avenue and on June 26, 2024 from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Illinois River Watershed Partnership Watershed Sanctuary at 221 South Main Street, Cave Springs, Arkansas.

For more information about the meeting, contact Tate Wentz at tate.wentz@agriculture.arkansas.gov.

Participants are encouraged to attend in person.

No RSVP required.

The Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Division, in partnership with the Oklahoma Conservation Commission (OCC), has scheduled the final public meetings to update the watershed-based management plan for the Illinois River Watershed.

The Illinois River and its tributaries have a variety of uses set forth by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, including fisheries, recreation, drinking water supply, and agricultural and industrial water supply. The goal of this watershed-based plan is to protect and improve water quality in streams and other waterbodies by addressing non-regulatory issues through voluntary activities or practices.

This is in-person and virtual. Call-in details: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81769907371?pwd=JeYsLLjaDXkPWr05AvRoMLsAPNvKZP.1 Meeting ID: 817 6990 7371, Passcode: 474269

“We greatly appreciate the overwhelming turnout of nearly 100 stakeholders for the third meeting in August,” said Tate Wentz, Arkansas Natural Resources Division Water Quality Section Manager. “The final meetings will focus on review of the watershed-based management process, watershed modeling results, and anticipated outcomes of conservation practice implementation. We will continue to accept input from stakeholders about conservation practices, so it is critical for anyone interested to attend and share input to guide resource allocations to improve water quality into the future.”

The meetings are open to the public and representatives from Arkansas and Oklahoma will provide an overview of the watershed management planning process. Stakeholders will hear from representatives on water quality model outputs and conservation practices to improve local water quality.

The meetings are set for June 25, 2024, from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Tahlequah, Oklahoma at the Armory at 100 North Water Avenue and on June 26, 2024 from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Illinois River Watershed Partnership Watershed Sanctuary at 221 South Main Street, Cave Springs, Arkansas.

For more information about the meeting, contact Tate Wentz at tate.wentz@agriculture.arkansas.gov.

Participants are encouraged to attend in person.

No RSVP required.

Join Grassroots Grazing Group (GGG) at Intentional Farms to see rotational grazing in action. You will have the opportunity to discuss effective use of electric and permanent fencing for rotational grazing, see innovative alternative livestock watering systems, and connect with other producers. The Oller’s have implemented multiple livestock management and Oak Savanna reclamation practices and they will discuss how they are working so far.

We will be looking at healthy soils for water retention capacity, forage health, and soil remineralization. We will discuss and analyze brix levels in grass to determine quality of forages.

In addition to cattle rotation, the Ollers are rotating hogs in the oak/hickory woods. 

Lunch will be provided. Please bring a lawn chair, hat, and anything else you may need for this rain or shine event.

Please register using the link below.

We hope to see you there!

TIME TO BE UPDATED

This event will fill up quick! Register Now.

The entire family is invited to join the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, Grand River Dam Authority, the City of Siloam Springs, and Ivory Bill Brewing for this educational workshop that will enable you to start your rain garden or bioswale project. Be one of the first 25 households in Siloam Springs to register and take a free rain barrel home ($70+ value).

Please Register below. Email contact@irwp.org if you have any questions. We will confirm your spot by email the week prior to the event. Check out the Facebook Event in the meantime.

AGENDA will be posted here when ready!

You may not think that your lawn has much of an impact on the world beyond your block, but it does! We have been trained over generations to appreciate lawns and open space as that are uniform with grass freshly cut short and free of ruffage. Let‘s rethink our vision of a perfect lawn and learn how to incorporate stormwater into our landscaping to improve water quality, help our neighbors downstream, and create beautiful spaces that connect us with our natural heritage.

“Each week we mow 45 million acres of lawns, an area larger than Florida. Two million more acres of lawns are added each year. Over the growing season, 800 million gallons of gasoline are used. We use 25,000 gallons of water per lawn to keep it green, half of our household water consumption. Lawns are our biggest irrigated crop but we cannot eat it or sell it.“ (AR.Audubon.org)

One of the primary reasons we need more use of rain gardens, rain barrels, managed natural areas, no mow zones, and other residential stormwater solutions is due to the rapid streambank erosion we are experiencing in the Illinois River Watershed. Our engineered hardscapes are very efficient at moving stormwater away from our properties at a high volume, velocity and with contaminants eventually arriving at our natural stormwater infrastructure - swales, streams, creeks, and rivers that are used for recreation and drinking water. This natural infrastructure is not equipped to handle the consequences of even small rains falling on today’s engineered landscapes. Streambank erosion is “death by 1,000 cuts” as it shears away soil, erodes banks resulting in tree falls, and loss of what we call riparian vegetation. The riparian area is the area of land adjacent to the stream; it is an important and often vulnerable area, hosting a multitude of habitats and shading the water to prevent pathogen breeding and harmful algae blooms. One other reason we need to integrate native plants and rain gardens into our landscapes is that deep root systems absorb stormwater and treat pollution from fertilization, pesticide and herbicide application, industrial contaminants, pet waste, and most everything to keep them from going downstream. This process is called phytoremediation.

Resources: Building Rain Barrels to Harvest Rainwater 

Septic systems are a potential source of impairment for groundwater and surface-flowing waterways. Most homeowners do not have sufficient savings to fully address outages when they are needed. In an effort to reduce the environmental and health impacts caused by failing systems, Illinois River Watershed Partnership (IRWP) and H2Ozarks have piloted Septic Tank Remediation Programs to offer financial assistance (grants and 0% interest loans) and technical assistance to homeowners, funded by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Division (NRD). Learn how this program is administered and how this program uses Clean Water State Revolving Funds (CWSRF) to fund operations, outreach, design, and construction of projects that meet eligibility criteria.