Little River Watershed Stream Reconnection in Southwest Arkansas
Aaron Norton
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission
Perrytown, AR
Aaron Norton will discuss the progress of a multi-stage stream connectivity project in the Lower Little River Watershed in Southwest Arkansas. The Lower Little River Watershed stream connectivity project is one of the largest conservation partnerships in the state, involving the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, The Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Division, Southeastern Aquatic Resources Partnership, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Polk County, and Weyerhaeuser- the largest private landowner in Arkansas. The project involves inventorying and removing aquatic organism passage barriers on three systems in the Lower Little River Watershed. It utilizes the Southeastern Aquatic Resources Partnership’s barrier prioritization protocol to identify barriers and natural channel design techniques to ensure stream stability. The partnership has already initiated and completed the removal of three aquatic organism passage barriers on the Saline River and is currently removing seven more barriers on the Rolling Fork and Robinson Fork river systems. The goal of the removals is to improve fish habitat for both federally listed species and gamefish, while restoring the streams to their natural hydrologic functions.
About Aaron Norton
Aaron Norton is the South Arkansas Stream Habitat Coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. In this role, he designs and implements streambank stabilization plans, barrier removal projects, and riparian restoration projects for both public lands and private landowners. Outside of his career, Aaron spends his time fishing, hunting, hiking, and camping on the same waters that he works on. His passion in his career and private life is to help keep the 'Natural State' natural.
Aaron received his bachelor's degree in Crop Science from Southern Arkansas University and his master's in Fisheries Biology from Arkansas Tech University, with an emphasis on how land use affects watersheds in the state. He has been a stream restoration biologist since 2022.