Flint Creek Power Plant

About the Program
American Electric Power’s Flint Creek Power Plant is a coal-fired electrical power station housing a single electric generating unit located west of Gentry, Arkansas, in Benton County. Since 1978, the site has used coal mined from the Powder River Basin and shipped on the Kansas City Southern Railway to provide electric power in Northwest Arkansas. The power plant actively manages approximately 700 acres of the property as wildlife habitat and voluntarily manages their lands to support a sustainable ecosystem. The site includes a hiking trail, a grassland restoration project benefiting native wildlife, a landscaped pollinator habitat and observation pavilions for bird-watching all open to the public year-round. Conservation team members continue to manage the land to enhance the habitat and provide recreation and education opportunities for the community.

Practices and Impacts

• The site supports native avian species by maintaining species-specific nest boxes to provide shelter and foraging opportunity for native birds. Since the inception of the project, there has been an increase in avian populations. Team members continue to monitor for avian species and repair nest boxes as needed, creating a robust habitat for native species.
• Five acres of land is dedicated to a prairie restoration project. The land is managed as grassland habitat using techniques such as scheduled burns each winter and chemical spot treatment to control invasive species. The team seeds native wildflowers annually to benefit wildlife and monitors the habitat using plant and wildlife surveys. Since 1999, employees maintain a journal of maintenance and monitoring activity.
• Beginning in 2022, the site offered an Earth Day event for local students and the community to learn about wildlife conservation and the environment. The 4.5-hour event reaches 50 people yearly and utilizes the habitats on-site for learning activities.