Natural Awe Restoration: Revitalizing Eudora, AR Through Community-Led Design
Tomeka Butler, Mayor
Eudora, Arkansas
Lee Forbes, PE, CFM
Headway Environmental
Houston, TX
David Bidelspach, PE
5 Smooth Stones Restoration
Livermore, CO
Rural communities like Eudora, Arkansas, are often left behind when it comes to ecological restoration and flood mitigation. This session explores a bold, community-led approach that integrates stream and wetland restoration, nature-based flood control, and restorative agriculture to reconnect residents with the land—and each other. The guiding principle, Natural Awe Restoration, reframes restoration as not only ecological, but emotional and economic.
Attendees will explore how restoration projects can deliver direct community benefits by integrating social and economic goals into the planning, design, and implementation phases. Presenters will share innovative tools and models, including Stream Management Corridors that double as blue-greenway trails, frameworks for community-owned green infrastructure enterprises, and strategies for aligning funding with holistic outcomes.
This session highlights the potential of restoration to re-envision rural revitalization—creating jobs, reducing flood risk, and reigniting local pride. It’s a practical look at how the power of nature can reinspire communities when given the chance to lead.
About Tomeka Butler, Mayor
Eudora, Arkansas
Tomeka L. Butler, born in Eudora, Arkansas on August 28, 1977, is the youngest of seven children born to the late Mr. Ned M. Butler, Sr. and Mrs. Doris M. Butler. Her foundation in servant leadership and community pride was shaped early through work on her family’s farm and at Butler’s Café, the family-owned restaurant. A standout student and leader, Tomeka was deeply involved in school, church, and civic life—holding positions such as President of Community In Action and Jericho Red Circle, First Chair Flute in the band, and Valedictorian of the Eudora High School Class of 1995—all while raising her daughter and holding a part-time job.
Tomeka earned a B.A. in History from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, where she also served as President of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. She went on to earn master’s degrees in Public Administration and Business Administration, building a successful career in customer service, management, and mortgage quality assurance. Returning to Eudora to support a charter school effort, Tomeka soon found a new path—becoming the city’s first African American female mayor. Her mission: to restore Eudora as a place of pride and possibility. Mayor Butler continues to lead with vision, resilience, and a deep love for her hometown—making history and inspiring others along the way.
About Lee Forbes, PE, DWRE
Mr. Forbes serves as the Director of Ecological Restoration Engineering for Headway Environmental. His experience as a consulting civil engineer spans more than 35 years, and he has been recognized as a Diplomate – Water Resources Engineering (D.WRE) by the ASCE’s American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE). In the last 23 years, Mr. Forbes has applied his unique and diverse background toward the emerging field of sustainable watershed resources management and has served as project manager/lead design engineer for numerous stream restoration, wetland restoration, and ecologically-enhanced channel stabilization/ restoration design projects throughout the country.
About David Bidelspach, PE
Mr. Bidelspach is a nationally recognized river restoration specialist with a broad range of experience restoring damaged ecosystems. Mr. Bidelspach’s academic and research background includes five years with the Stream Restoration Program at North Carolina State University (NCSU), where he provided assessment, design, and construction oversight services on many restoration projects and taught courses related to river assessment, restoration design, and construction administration. He also worked for nine years as the river restoration technical leader for a large engineering consulting firm. He has completed more than 100 river restoration/stabilization projects in 29 states, 6 Canadian Provinces/Territories, and Costa Rica. Mr. Bidelspach was mentored at NCSU by Dr. Greg Jennings and at Wildland Hydrology by Dr. Dave Rosgen. He specializes in using Natural Channel Design (NCD) coupled with a traditional engineering framework for river restoration designs to achieve optimal project goals and objectives. The MCDA framework has been utilized and taught by Mr. Bidelspach and incorporates NCD, three-dimensional (3-D) stream design, limiting factors analysis for fisheries, flood risk, geomorphic assessment, river resiliency, cost analysis, changing points of diversion, and stakeholder involvement into a design optimization scheme.