Wallace Design Collective

Northwest Arkansas is experiencing unprecedented population growth, bringing both opportunities and significant challenges for water resource management. At the 2025 Smart Growth for Water Resources Conference hosted by the Beaver Watershed Alliance and sponsored by Wallace Design Collective, team members Fallon Henry – Landscape Architect, Heather Rogers – H&H Specialist, and Zach Sample – Civil Engineer, gathered valuable insights on sustainable development approaches that balance growth with environmental stewardship.

Regional Challenges Require Regional Solutions

One of the most compelling presentations came from John McCurdy, Director of Community Development for the City of Rogers. His session on “Comprehensive Stormwater Management at the Municipal Level and Beyond” highlighted how infrastructure decisions made by one community can have serious implications for neighboring areas – resulting in long-term regional impacts.

“What happens upstream doesn’t stay upstream,” emerged as a key theme throughout the conference. Current floodplain management policies often fail to adequately consider downstream impacts, leading to increased flooding and resource strain in adjacent communities.

Innovative Approaches to Water Management

Several promising trends and innovations stood out as key drivers of change for our region:

Intercommunity Planning and Cost Sharing: Communities that collaborate on economic development and infrastructure projects are seeing reduced costs and more sustainable outcomes. This approach recognizes watershed management as a shared responsibility rather than an individual municipal challenge.

Integration of Natural Solutions: Landscape architects are increasingly being brought into projects earlier in the design process. Presentations on native plantings demonstrated how thoughtfully designed landscapes can help clean stormwater, prevent erosion and create more resilient systems.

Advanced Mapping Technologies: Regional GIS mapping that encompasses entire storm systems and basins is providing a more comprehensive view of water movement across municipal boundaries.

Moving Beyond Standard Practices

The conference challenged conventional wisdom about stormwater management. Standard design approaches that have been industry practice for years are increasingly being scrutinized as empirical data reveals their downstream impacts.

Alternative methods for storm sewer design show promise for more efficient and effective water management. These approaches consider the watershed as an interconnected system rather than focusing solely on moving water away from immediate development sites.

The Path Forward

For communities experiencing rapid growth like those in Northwest Arkansas, smart water resource management requires:

1. Early collaboration between developers, municipal leaders, engineers and landscape architects
2. Consideration of regional impacts rather than focusing solely on local jurisdiction requirements
3. Integration of natural solutions alongside traditional infrastructure
4. Willingness to challenge conventional design standards in favor of more sustainable approaches

As our region continues to grow, the insights gained from this conference will inform how we approach projects, advise clients and advocate for sustainable development practices that protect our valuable water resources. These insights help guide how we approach projects, advise our clients, and approach projects with a more holistic mindset; advocating for development that doesn’t just meet today’s needs, but also considers the long-term health of our environment and quality of life.

The message was clear: we must think beyond municipal boundaries and traditional approaches to create water management solutions that serve our growing communities while preserving what makes Northwest Arkansas special.

Let’s Connect!

If you’re a developer, municipal leader or community stakeholder interested in exploring smart growth solutions, we’d love to connect. Let’s work together to design resilient infrastructure that withstands time and protects what makes Northwest Arkansas special.