Dear Friends of Markham Hill,

We have ten days left before the City Council decides on Markham Hill rezoning. We are the underdog in this effort. So, please keep sharing our petition with people who care about the environment, clean air and water, nature, wildlife, natural habitat, trees, ecology, hikers, horseback riders, artists, Fayetteville history, Pratt sisters Evangeline Archer and Joy Markham, climate change, Markham Hill fans, or simply love a quiet place to get away from buildings, pavement, and people.

If you live locally, please come to the City Council meeting on Sept 18 at 5:30pm to support us and, if you can, speak for 1-3 minutes at the podium on why you are against the rezonings and why you want to save as much of the land as possible.

I am going to try to find RMD Properties (Portland, Oregon address) who now own this land and ask them if they would donate all 144 acres to the NWA Land Trust as a conservation easement so we can make it a nature and wildlife preserve. They can make plenty of money with the Pratt Inn and Event Barn which lie on four acres of the land. There's a saying, "You have not because you ask not." So, I will ask. Be praying or sending positive vibes!

I will be speaking to the City's Urban Forestry Advisory Board and the Environmental Action Committee to ask them to recommend to the City Council that the land not be rezoned and that due diligence be exercised by performing surveys, analysis, and studies on the trees, wildlife, water flow from the many springs during heavy rains, and environmental harm of replacing so much hillside and hilltop green space with impervious surfaces on Markham Hill.

Thank you so much!

Lisa Orton