Fighting Urban Deforestation of Fayetteville
Contact Friends
of Markham Hill
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410-674-8440
Markham Hill
What and Where
• 144 acres of natural habitat and woods, with several acres of horse pastures and three homes built by the Pratt family who first settled there in 1900
• One of Fayetteville’s endangered urban forests and seven hills
• Located west of Razorback Rd and east of interstate highway 49. Follow Markham Rd until it becomes woods. The road ends at the top of the hill. More than 144 acres of woods surround you.
Why should Markham Hill be saved from development and put into a permanent conservation easement as a nature, wildlife, historic, and archeology preserve?
• Historically part of Fayetteville’s mature tree cover and green infrastructure, contributing to the City’s environmental health (cleaning the air and water)
• Last large acreage of woods this side of the interstate highway where wildlife can take refuge
• For over 70 years, bird enthusiasts, nature lovers, and U of A professors and students have studied the nature, wildlife, rock formations, Native American sites, and early 20th century history of Markham Hill
• Another example of Fayetteville’s diversity – having 144 acres of preserved natural habitat and urban forest within the City is special
• Ozark history and stories about Markham Hill from Pratt family friends, horseback riders, hikers, runners, campers, nature and wildlife enthusiasts, and hippies
• Evangeline Pratt Archer’s home is on the National Register of Historic Places and Joy Pratt Markham’s boys and girls camp (1920-1940) is on the Arkansas Register of Historic Places
• Evangeline Pratt Archer helped found the Ozark Society which worked a decade to help save the Buffalo River in the 1960s-1970s and make it the U.S.’s first National River
• Joy Pratt Markham willed her money and her portion of the land to the U of A for preservation and the arts
What can you do to help?
• Sign our petition ‘Save Markham Hill’ on change.org
• Email the City (Dear Mayor, Planning Commission, and City Council) at cityclerk@fayetteville-ar.gov and ask them to help save Markham Hill from development
• Join our Facebook group ‘Friends of Markham Hill’ to keep up with what is going on
• Ask the developer Specialized Real Estate Group (SREG) to please sell the entire 144-acre Markham Hill property to a conservationist who will preserve it all. Their addresses are:
Seth Mims
seth@specializedreg.com
Jeremy Hudson
jeremy@specializedreg.com
“We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”