Environmental notebook

Water tests urged for flooded wells

The Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is urging people whose wells were flooded in recent rains to have their well water tested, according to a news release from the division.

People can submit water samples to the Arkansas Department of Health, the Arkansas Water Quality Lab or another private laboratory.

People whose well water tests high for bacteria should treat their water with shock chlorination, the news release states.

Comments taken on forest projects

Two projects in the Caddo-Womble Ranger District of the Ouachita National Forest are accepting comments on environmental analyses of their effects.

Concerned people have until mid-March to comment on the district’s proposal to conduct prescribed burns, plant shortleaf pine trees, construct and reconstruct roads and other activities in more than 1,000 acres of the South Fork Mountain area in Montgomery and Pike counties.

The project intends to create an environment for a diversity of plant and animal communities and produce a sustainable amount of wood products, among other things, according to the environmental assessment of the project.

The area has invasive plant species, a lack of nesting habitat, blocked streams and damaged trees, according to the assessment.

Forest officials in the South have planted shortleaf pine trees, which are native to the region, to replace loblolly pines, which are nonnative and block more light from hitting the ground.

Interested people have until the beginning of April to comment on the U.S. Forest Service’s finding that a road maintenance project in the Caddo-Womble Ranger District in the Ouachita National Forest would have no significant impact on the environment.

The Forest Road 68 project is designed to reduce sediment pollution in a nearby stream and reduce recurring road maintenance problems, according to the draft of the agency’s Finding of No Significant Impact report.

The Forest Service plans to reconstruct 1 mile of the road and elevate it above the stream and to relocate a quarter-mile of the road 20 to 50 feet farther east of the stream in Montgomery County.

The project also would consist of timber clearing along the road alignment and the replacement of culverts and ditches, according to the report.

Documents on the South Fork Mountain project, including an environmental assessment of the impacts, are available at http://bit. ly/2CVtVRg.

Documents for the Road 68 project are at http://bit. ly/2HZ9mHJ.

County cleanups’ supplies pledged

Keep Arkansas Beautiful is challenging people to organize a litter cleanup in all 75 counties in the state from March through May, according to a news release from the group.

The group will provide trash bags, T-shirts and some additional supplies until they run out, the announcement said.

People can organize cleanups at http://bit.ly/2018GAC and find events at KeepArkansasBeautiful.com.

High water levels scuttle workshop

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture has postponed a timber workshop for women because of high waters at Lake DeGray State Park, the division announced this week.

The Women Owning Woodlands conference was scheduled for Thursday and Friday but will now be held April 19-20 at the park.

The conference costs $35 and will teach women who have timber on their properties about certification, healthy forests and government programs.