Our usual increase in number of new signatures on our petition each month is 100 which is great. But in the month of February we increased by 639!  Today we have 6281 people who signed our petition to save Markham Hill from development and make it a preserve. 

We will keep adding to our numbers until the City of Fayetteville starts supporting our effort and until the out-of-state owner Robert M Dant and his local developer Specialized Real Estate Group (Jeremy Hudson and Seth Mims) see that it is best for Markham Hill, the people of Fayetteville, and themselves to sell the entire 144-acre Markham Hill property to a conservationist or group who will preserve it all and to actually work with us to make that happen. 

This could be a win-win situation. Mr Dant and SREG would still make a profit if they sold at the appraised value of around $6 million since they bought the property for $3.1 million, they would get tax credits for selling the land for conservation, and their reputation in Fayetteville, Northwest Arkansas, and elsewhere would improve. They could demonstrate the type of development they are envisioning elsewhere where nothing of value is destroyed. 

And for those who want to save Markham Hill, we would not be gaining financially like they would, but we would have the earth and mankind benefits, excitement, joy, and spiritual peace of having saved and preserved this large intact urban forest with its natural habitats, wildlife, springs, ecology, environment, history, historical buildings and ruins, archeology, and known Native American landform. The 200-acre Markham Hill Preserve, in the middle of Fayetteville. What Joy Pratt Markham and Evangeline Pratt Waterman Archer envisioned for their family land.

So, will Mr Dant, SREG, Jeremy Hudson, and Seth Mims go down in history as those who destroyed the 100-year Pratt family vision for Markham Hill or as those who helped make it a 200-acre Markham Hill Preserve for generations to come?