CONWAY, Ark. (March 8, 2013) - Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. recently awarded a $91,575 grant to The Village at Hendrix, a 93-acre mixed-use neighborhood adjacent to Hendrix College. The grant will support enhancements to Hendrix Creek Preserve (HCP), an 18-acre creek restoration project located within The Village.
In addition to being a recreational green space for The Village, HCP is the primary storm water management and filtration system for a 500-acre watershed of developed land, which includes a Wal-Mart Super Center a half mile away.
The grant will fund new interpretative signage to explain the purpose and biological features of the preserve and the importance of water quality, as well as an efficient collection system for trash that comes from offsite locations and additional plantings of native plant species.
According to Lawrence Finn, chief operating officer for The Village, the new enhancements will expand the educational reach of HCP by providing additional information to visitors via permanent signage, increasing awareness of the effect of litter on water systems, and offering a more diverse ecological system and better functioning water cleansing system.
"Not only will these initiatives expand the educational reach of Hendrix Creek Preserve, they will improve the beauty of the natural habit and enhance the performance and ecology of the storm management system," Finn said.
Since HCP was completed in fall 2011, it has been used as an educational model in science, engineering, and architecture programs throughout the state.
The project will be overseen by Ecological Design Group, Inc. and Martin L. Smith, a landscape architect whose work includes several environmentally sensitive projects in Austin, Texas, and throughout Arkansas.
Founded in 1876, Hendrix College is a national leader in engaged liberal arts and sciences education. For the fifth consecutive year, Hendrix was named one of the country's "Up and Coming" liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. Hendrix is featured in the 2012 edition of the Princeton Review as one of the country's best 377 colleges, the latest edition of Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think about Colleges, Forbes magazine's annual list of America's Top 650 Colleges, and the 2013 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Hendrix has been affiliated with the United Methodist Church since 1884. For more information, visit www.hendrix.edu.