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Pack and Paddle |
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A Springfest at Tyler Bend The Buffalo River Chapter of Marshall and Searcy County hosted the April 29-30 Ozark Society Spring Meeting at Tyler Bend on the Buffalo National River and it was a perfect mix of business and pleasure, with more than 100 people on hand. Our thanks to BRC co-chairs Laura and David Timby of Chimes and the many Searcy County chapter members who pitched in to make this meeting a memorable mixture of business and pleasure. Chapter stalwarts Wendy and Erin Hughes, Ruth McShane, Farrel and Tamara Couch (tireless hike leaders), Terry and Kathy Sutterfield, Mike de Buys and Paula Mathews, Noel Mays and Susan and Andrea Todt were praised by Laura and David for their efforts, and we would like to do the same. Anneli Parvo shared her talents at gourd art, and, as Laura said, "brought the most amazing collection of gourds I have ever seen and helped participants start on their own gourd creations -- even providing seeds for planting." The Ozark Society Board met and awarded the Ozark Society's most prestigious honor, the Neil Compton Award, to Lois Imhoff of Fayetteville, who served tirelessly as Society secretary at a crucial period in the Ozark Society's early history, and to Hubert and Mary Virginia Ferguson of Boxley for their many efforts on behalf of the Society. Hubert's writings helped publicize the danger to the Buffalo River posed by Gilbert and Lone Rock dams, and Mary Virginia personally made the trip to Washington with her son, John, to speak at the Congressional hearing that decided the river's fate. Board member Susan Young arranged for the appropriate awards -- statuettes of buffaloes. The board again endorsed the concept of a Trans-Ozark Trail from Fort Smith to St. Louis. The Sylamore District of the USFS has acted on a suggestion to extend the Ozark Highlands Trail from south of the Leatherwood Wilderness east, then north toward Norfork, for a total of approximately 28 miles. The Society later urged them to expedite the process. However, the board rejected, by a vote of 7 to 4, a motion by Duane Woltjen of Fayetteville to endorse an extension of the Ozark Highlands Trail along and within the southern boundary of the Lower Buffalo Wilderness. President Noland reported that the Society has asked environmental Attorney Sam Ledbetter to appeal any in-stream gravel mining that might harm the water quality of Crooked Creek. Ledbetter has won numerous pollution cases for the Arkansas Wildlife Federation. Our speakers at the meeting, David Mott, hydrologist for the National Park Service, addressed us about the water quality of the Buffalo National River, which is basically very good at present but faces future problems from various types of "non-point source" pollution in the watershed surrounding the narrow BNR corridor. As Supt. Jack Linahan likes to put it, "we are downhill from everybody." Unresponsive landowners who spurn NPS help at controlling pollution have been left to the future tender mercies of the Environmental Protection Agency. Lots'a luck! Historian Susie Rogers did a great job of explaining the history of Tyler Bend and the hardships that pioneers like Peter Tyler and his family faced during and after the Civil War. Kathy Downs talked about the Ozark Eco-Center and the success of its Eco-tour programs. "Most people accept it as a pretty good thing," she said. The Saturday evening potluck was well attended and the food was delicious. President Stewart Noland made good on his brag -- he won the Dutch Oven Cookoff Contest. A scraped-clean empty bowl was potent evidence that he had the mojo that night! Our friends in the Mountain View area musical group, Harmony, then performed to an enthusiastic audience, who later grabbed up their new CD, and a new cassette of their performance of Charley Sandage's "Arkansas Stories." On Sunday, geologist John David McFarland led about 45 people on his educational "geo-float" canoe tour on the Buffalo River and revealed the secrets Ma Nature used to shape this magnificent landscape. The next Ozark Society meeting will be Sept. 9-10 at Shepherd of the Ozarks retreat near Harriett. BOTANICAL NOTES Editoršs Note: By popular demand, we are re-printing the popular "BOTANICAL NOTES" columns that were written for the old "Ozark Society Bulletin" by the late Mrs. Maxine Clark of Fayetteville, AR., a professional botanist and teacher. She was co-editor of the Bulletin with her late husband, Joe Marsh Clark, a geologist. Together, they were a walking graduate course in botany and geology for many then-young members of this ever-evolving "happening" we call The Ozark Society. Their memory, and influence, is a permanent gift that should be shared. As the current carries you swiftly by rich wooded terraces lying at the base of north facing bluffs, you catch glimpses of golden yellow intermingled with bright clear blue, and feel impelled to back paddle and find a spot where a safe jump can be negotiated between a tipsy canoe and a muddy bank. Your reward is a veritable early spring garden of the Ozark's most beautiful early spring wild flowers. Yellow of celandine poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum), blue of wild sweet William (Phlox divaricata), pale pink of Dutchman's breeches (Dicentracucullaria) and a variety of delicate shades of greens seem to proclaim, "I'm new and untouched by the elements". Let's make the most of our exploratory venture. The waxy white petals and numerous stamens of the bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) have fallen and exposed the erect seed capsule, the stem of which is sheathed by the distinctive leaf never forgotten once recognized. The red juice of the rootstock was used by the American Indians as a stain for war paint and for dyeing the quills of their arrows. The roots have certain medicinal properties as emetics and purgatives. Uvularia grandiflora, commonly called merry-bells, has yellow, drooping, lily like flowers and clasping leaves which appear to be threaded on the stem. Though not flamboyant like the celandine poppy, it is a distinctive member of the lily family. Wild ginger (Asarum canadense) which belongs to the birthwort family, Aristolochiaceae, as does the vine, Dutchman's pipe, is not to be confused with the one of gingerbread fame, which is a tropical plant and not botanically related to Asarurn. However, wild ginger is one ingredient in an apple chutney receipe given in the southern cookbook section of The GreaterAmerican Cookbook. Let us examine the plant; if you gently pull back the soil, a hairy, brownish purple flower will be found in the axil of two equally hairy stems of the two heart shaped leaves. The handsome, peltate leaves of May-apple (Podophyllum peltatum) have emerged from the soil and we confirm a former observation that stems bearing two leaves have a flower bud in their axil; single leaved stems are sterile. The rootstock, stems and leaves are poisonous, but are avoided by animals because of the bitter taste. The ripe fruit is edible and when made into a jelly, marmalade or preserves has a flavor suggestive of guava jelly. Recent study of the rootstock as a possible remedy for cancer has not been conelusive. Iris cristata, the crested dwarf iris, with its exposed, knotty rhizomes and short stemmed flowers of delicate blue, forms a large colony in the thinner soil surrounding a large tree trunk. Flower buds of spiderwort (Tradescantia) are expanding) and we recall that two species, T. ernestiana and T. ozarkana are indigenous of the Ozark and Ouachita areas of S. W. Missouri, N. E. Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Wooly fiddle heads of Christmas fern (Polystichum arostichoides) and fragile stems of the northern maidenhair (Adiantum pedatum) will be fully developed fronds in a few weeks. A spicy fragrance prompted us to make a quick inspection of the bordering limestone bluff, and it was no surprise to find the fragrant gooseberry (Ribes odoratum) with its clusters of small yellow flowers. This shrub may be found blooming with redbud in all sorts of rocky situations, even on the bleak Narrows that separate the Buffalo and Richland Creek valleys. Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arasaema atrorubens) stands knee high at the base of the bluff and we remember Ken Smith telling us of the unusually large plants of this species to be found in Indian Creek Canyon in May. The arurns have net veined leaves and are an exception to the rule that monocots have leaves with parallel veining. We must hurry and not cause the other canoeists concern. As we drift through the next quiet pool, we contemplate and realize that in a few minutes observation of a small area, we have seen representatives of eleven plant families. On a return trip next month we could surely add many more, including the Orchidaceae. Conservation Observations By Paul Means In the Spring issue of Pack & Paddle, I wrote that the year 2000 began with many decisions still pending. We are now only half way through that new year, and yet many of those decisions have already been made. The most important decision was one by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to deny the request by the Searcy County Regional Water District (SCRWD) for a permit to build a dam and small water supply reservoir on Bear Creek -- a major tributary of the Buffalo National River. Federal regulations require the Corps to consider the most feasible alternative with the least environmental impact. The Ozark Society argued in several letters that extending a water pipeline from Clinton to Marshall was the most economical and environmentally advantageous alternative. The Corps accepted our alternative. On another front, after almost a year of dithering, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality finally adopted regulations restricting gravel mining in streams. The Ozark Society, Save Our Streams, and the Crooked Creek Coalition have worked toward this goal. Gravel mining can be conducted in some streams in Arkansas without serious water quality impacts. The Arkansas River and lower Ouachita River are two good examples. Crooked Creek, however, is a different matter. Now, gravel miners wishing to take gravel from the Crooked Creek streambed must demonstrate that they can do so without violating water quality standards. Given the number of scientific studies showing that such mining does violate the standards, this will be a formidable task. Therefore, future gravel mining along Crooked Creek will be conducted outside of the streambed, and the complex, gravel-based acquatic habitat that supports the stream's nationally famous smallmouth bass fishing will be protected. While it's true that the rules are now in place, we need to continue monitoring both the Department and gravel miners to see that the rules are enforced. The Ozark Society, and others, stand ready to challenge any permit that is issued for mining in Crooked Creek. In the larger picture, many Americans expect instant action. However, a democracy moves slowly. There has to be debate and compromise. More than three years has elapsed from the time groups began to ask for protection of Crooked Creek and the regulations finally being adopted. The moral to this story is that conservation reforms require both commitment and patience to achieve. Crooked Creek Update Our man on Crooked Creek -- Garner Jones of Greenwood -- serves as both the communications coordinator for Save Our Streams and a member of the Executive Board of the Crooked Creek Conservation Alliance (when does this man sleep?). He wrote us recently to report on the ongoing soap opera involving Crooked Creek and rapacious commercial in-stream gravel mining that threatens to destroy its nationally famous smallmouth bass fishery. It seems conservationists have won a round. During the public comment period over the mining permit applications of miner Monty Davenport and Mountain Home Concrete (MHC), the Arkansas Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) believed there were enough technical questions raised to warrant additional information from the applicants, Jones reports. Davenport and MHC had 60 days in which to respond. Neither furnished DEQ with the requested information by the June 27 deadline. The DEQ denied both the Davenport and MHC permits on June 29. On July 5, the Ozark Society and other conservation organizations received a letter from Floyd Durham, chief of the DEQ's Surface Mining and Reclamation Division, informing us that Notices of the denials will be published in the The Mountain Echo newspaper at Yellville. Durham explained that the comment period associated with these denials will end at 4:30 p.m. on Aug. 7, 2000. If either applicant chooses to contest the DEQ's decision, both the Ozark Society and Save Our Streams is poised and ready to counter their appeals with whatever legal action is necessary. The research studies that have been conducted on the harmful effects of poorly regulated gravel mining on stream fisheries reveals that it is virtually impossible to use heavy mining equipment in the bed of a stream without damaging "water quality." In-stream mining on high quality recreational streams that generate millions in tourist dollars for local economies is a tarnished relic of an inglorious "anything goes" period in Arkansas' mining history. It should be banished forever. Arkansas simply can't afford NOT to stop this destructive practice when other less damaging methods for obtaining gravel are readily available from properly regulated -- and inspected -- open pit mining operations kept safely buffered from living streams. It's a goal worth shooting for. Currents By Stewart Noland At its winter meeting, the Ozark Society Board voted to award the Neil Compton Award to Lois Imhoff of Fayetteville and Mary Virginia and Hubert Ferguson of Boxley. All three of these individuals played key roles in the organization and growth of the Ozark Society during the decade-long struggle to save the Buffalo River from being obliterated by federal impoundments. It was time we said thanks. Board member Susan Young arranged for the awards -- statuettes of buffaloes-- which were appropriate in light of these long-time Ozark Society members' efforts in the preservation of the Buffalo River. Lois served as secretary at a hectic and critical time; Hubert campaigned tirelessly for the Buffalo through his numerous contacts with the hunting/fishing/conservation community and his writing/editing skills; and Mary Virginia made the trip to Washington to testify at the crucial hearing on the Buffalo National River. Congratulations to Lois, Mary Virginia, and Hubert. I'm sure Neil would approve. The Sylamore Ranger District of the Ozark National Forest has acted quickly on the suggestion to extend the Ozark Highlands Trail from south of the Leatherwood Wilderness east, then north toward Norfork, for a total of approximately 28 miles. The Ozark Society has responded to the Sylamore District by encouraging it to expedite the study process. The letter from the Sylamore District indicates that rail construction could begin in 3-5 years. I have also written a letter to the Buffalo National River encouraging it to study alternative trail routes for the remainder of the trail at its earliest convenience. Many thanks to all the hard working members of the Buffalo River Chapter for the well planned and educational Spring Meeting at Tyler Bend. It was also great to have our friends in the musical group "Harmony" back to visit and entertain us. The fame of this group continues to spread nationally and they deserve all the success coming their way. If you've never seen the majestic bluffs along Big Creek, then you will want to attend the fall meeting Sept. 9-10 at the Shepherd of the Ozarks, a mountain resort retreat center, near Harriet, Arkansas. Arkansas has nothing else like it. We have reserved one of the spacious lodges for our meeting. See article elsewhere in this issue. The Army Corps of Engineers recently denied the Section 404 permit for the proposed Bear Creek Dam and Reservoir. The Ozark Society supports the Corps in denying the permit and it supports the Corps' rational for denying the permit. The Corps determined that a practical, economic water supply alternative is available to Searcy County. The Ozark Society supports Searcy County's efforts to develop a water supply, but we disagree that the Bear Creek Dam is the preferred alternative. The recent heavy rains have helped to replenish the state's reservoirs, though the Corps says more is needed. The rains have provided some late season white water to make up for a relatively dry spring. I hope all of our members had a chance to enjoy the high water. (Editor's note: The SCRWD was to appeal the Corps' decision. However, as of press time for P&P, a Corps spokesman said the SCRWD was considering its options and had not notified them of their plans.) P&P Deadlines, Dates Pack & Paddle is published on a flexible quarterly basis (spring, summer, fall, and winter. State Directors or their designates (usually chapter newsletter editors) are responsible for gathering and reporting Society news and conservation activities in their respective areas. Contributions from individual members are also welcome. Please put us on the mailing list for all chapter newsletters. We need black and white or color prints (no slides) of Society news for publication. Send copy and photos to Communications Chairman/Editor
John Heuston, 25 Aberdeen Dr., Little Rock,
AR 72223 (phone 1-501-868-8177; E-Mail, ozarkjheu@aol.com). All possible care will be
taken with your submissions, but we are not responsible for copy or photos lost or damaged
in the publication process. Stuff happens. Include Stamped, Self-addressed Envelope (SSAE)
if you want your photos returned! Roadless Rage in our National Forests By John Heuston Well, perhaps the term "rage" is a mite strong. However, the U. S. Forest Service's nationwide "Roadless Area Conservation Proposed Rule and Summary of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement" is now going through the public comment stage and has stirred both strong support and heated outrage among a variety of forest user groups in our four-state bailiwick. Conservation Chairman Paul Means has written a letter to the USFS on behalf of the Society. The Society Board has not yet endorsed any one of the four USFS alternatives proposed. Means says he has some serious concerns about how the various "Roadless Alternatives" now under consideration are going to dovetail with the new forest plan -- which may or may not accomplish the same roadless conservation objectives. "Basically, the Forest Service just needs to decide what part of the forest they want to grow trees in and what part they don't," he said. Remember, these areas remain "roadless" for the simple reason that whatever timber is back there in these rugged, by-passed areas isn't worth the expense it would take to harvest it -- at YOUR expense! The Public Hearing So, on Tuesday evening, July 27th, Pulaski Chapter Chairman Mike Farar, Alice Andrews, and your editor attended the latest 6-9 p.m. public hearing on this subject held in the Arkansas Tech University library at Russellville. Deryl Jevons of the USFS did a good job of moderating the meeting, where almost 60 people emotionally, but politely, expressed their opinions on the four "roadless" management alternatives being considered. The speakers represented the varied and always colorful opinions of forest inholders, hikers, birders, conservationists, motorcycle dirt bikers, ATV riders, Four-Wheel-Drive vehicle clubs, horsemen, hunters, anglers, loggers and the inevitable flacks for those timber purchasing groups that profit from taxpayer subsidized federal timber sales. On hand to speak were the usual "God would have done a better job if he'd only gone to forestry school" spokesmen for the forest products industry; Game and Fish even had a habitat conservationist on hand to predict dire consequences for wildlife and hunters should "road closures" prevent habitat manipulation (one wonders how those herds of deer, elk and bison, flocks of wild turkey and numerous black bear existed in Fred Gerstacker's time without a habitat coordinator?). One agitated logging spokesman raised the discredited "forest health" bogeyman by predicting catastrophic forest fires if we protect what little "old growth" trees we have left in what he termed our "dying" forests. He ignored the fact that logging slash is a major source of fuel for forest fires and roadless areas provide a buffer to "invasive species." Besides, dead trees provide important denning sites and sanctuary for many wildlife species. A tree does not have to be made into a 2 X 4 to be useful. And, of course, our Native Americans got their share of the blame for not being around to burn the woods off anymore. True, fire is beneficial and burn they did. But they must have been a very busy bunch of aboriginals because, according to the Arkansas Archeological Society, there never was a very large settled population of native Americans in the Ozarks. Frequent fire-setting expeditions must have left scant time for flintknapping, pottery making, and cave art. Then, too, botanists like Dr. Neil Compton were quick to point out that the herds of grazing buffalo had a lot to do with keeping the pioneer Ozark woodlands "open" before they were extirpated. Others were more direct. They simply blamed this whole "Roadless" concept on President's Clinton's desire to "leave a legacy." It made for a lively and educational -- yet orderly -- evening. The Legacy of RARE II So what's the fuss really all about? Basically, the Forest Service now has more roads than they can pay for and they don't need any more. Here's some background. The Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE II) process in the Seventies ultimately led to passage of the Arkansas Wilderness Act of 1984 establishing most of the current national forest wilderness areas we enjoy today. Under RARE II, 141,000 acres in the Ozark-Ouachita forests were inventoried and qualified as essentially "roadless." Today, approximately 22,000 acres of these areas that were "passed over" for wilderness remain and are the subject of this latest roadless review. Some definitions are in order: So called "inventoried" roadless areas date back to the wilderness studies. However, there are USFS lands which were not identified in the inventories, but currently do not have "classified" roads (defined as state, county, private, permitted and Forest Service roads). These other areas are defined as "unroaded areas." They contain roadless characteristics similar to inventoried roadless areas, but are most often less than 5,000 acres in size and were therefore not inventoried. Some are jewel boxes. Nationally, "Inventoried roadless areas comprise over 54 million acres, or 28 percent, of National Forest System lands," according to the Draft EIS. The Forest Service believes: "Areas without roads have inherent values and characteristics that are becoming scarce in an increasingly developed landscape. While NFS inventoried roadless areas represent about 2 percent of the total landbase of the United States, they provide significant opportunities for dispersed recreation, sources of public drinking water, and large undisturbed landscapes that provide privacy and seclusion. In addition, these areas serve as bulwarks against the spread of invasive species and often provide important habitat for rare plant and animal species, support the diversity of native species, and provide opportunities for monitoring and research." The Money Crunch That's true. However, the Forest Service is also motivated by other harsh realities -- namely, a lack of money. It takes money (yours and mine) to build and maintain logging roads and they don't have enough to go around. After all, the road system on our national forests has grown to be larger than the Interstate Highway System -- and that's BIG. "Due to lack of maintenance, the NFS road system has fallen into disrepair," admits the draft EIS. "The Forest Service currently has an $8.4 billion maintenance and reconstruction backlog on its 386,000-mile road system and budget allocations have averaged less than 20% of funds needed to do annual maintenance. This lack of maintenance exacerbates the effects of roads on the environment and has led many people both within and outside the agency to question the wisdom of building new roads in sensitive areas when there is an inability to maintain existing roads." In a nutshell -- saving money on road construction and maintenance is the primary objective of the USFS in this issue. Being cash-poor has its good points. The forest products industry is, of course, horrified at the idea that they may be cut off from ANY taxpayer subsidized timber sales, no matter how insignificant this timber might be in the national Big Picture (less that 5%). However, it seems that every recreation group that uses the forest is concerned about how their personal ox will be gored. However, NONE of the four alternatives being considered by the USFS would close what few roads exist on some of these inventoried and non-inventoried "roadless" areas to hikers, horsemen, or off-road vehicle enthusiasts. The roads just would not be maintained or reconstructed, UNLESS needed to protect public health and safety, the need for an environmental protection response (pollution cleanup), habitat restoration and "road realignment" for a variety of reasons. The alternatives Alternative l is essentially a "No action-No prohibitions" option to preserve the current status quo. Future proposals for road construction and reconstruction would be considered on a case-by-case basis at the project level where allowed by current land management plans. Alternative 2 (the USFS preferred alternative) would prohibit road construction and reconstruction within unroaded portions of inventoried roadless areas. That's their main objective. Alternative 3 would prohibit road construction, reconstruction, AND timber harvest except for stewardship purposes within unroaded portions of inventoried roadless areas. Stewardship purposes include some timber removal. Stewardship timber sales are allowed to achieve certain "desired ecological conditions" and for thinning of overly dense stands of trees so that fire may be safely introduced, wildlife habitat improvement, etc. Alternative 4 would prohibit road construction, reconstruction, and ALL timber harvest within unroaded portions of inventoried roadless areas. This is the strictest alternative. Timber harvest would not be allowed for commodity or stewardship purposes. However, personal use harvest of firewood and Christmas trees would be permitted, as it is in the first three alternatives. Is the USFS Response to weak? What has raised the eyebrows of conservation organizations, especially the Sierra Club, is that the "Procedural Alternatives" that accompany the four basic alternatives gives local forest and grassland managers an awful lot of leeway. For example: "Simply stated, in some cases, the local manager may determine that the roadless characteristics found in an inventoried roadless or other unroaded area warrant protection and decide to restrict certain activities to conserve those characteristics. "In other areas, the manager may consider the roadless characteristics, but decide that due to other factors, activities, which would reduce the value of these characteristics, may occur. In essence, the local manager determines what activities are appropriate in an area." A prohibition alternative might tie a local manager's hands, but otherwise, the plan puts a lot of power in his grasp. Our friends in the Sierra Club would like to see a stronger plan which bans ALL logging and road building in ALL roadless areas in the national forests that are smaller than l,000 acres. The overall plan also includes consideration for the Tongass Forest in Alaska. Sierrans want it included. They want the plan to declare these roadless areas off-limits to all mining, off-road vehicle use, oil and gas development, logging and road development. While that prospect is enticing, and provides a noble goal to shoot for, it doesn't jibe with the current "share the resource" mentality that now dominates state and federal agencies in the outdoor recreation business. I suspect there will be compromises made along the way. There are just too many varied user organizations out there with political savvy wanting a piece of this "roadless" pie. It will be educational to see how it all turns out. Members who want to learn more about the roadless issue, in excruciating detail, and who have access to the internet can log on to the Roadless Area Initiative web site at: roadless.fs.fed.us. You can also get a copy of the draft EIS and other information at the USFS offices at Russellville or Hot Springs, or by writing USDA Forest Service, Attn: Roadless Areas Conservation Proposed Rule, P. O. Box 221090, Salt Lake City, UT 84122. By the time this issue of P&P gets mailed, the July 17 public comment period may be over; but the roadless issue probably will be around for a long time. If this P&P gets to you before July 17, you can e-mail your comments to roadlessdeis@fs.fed.us. Fall Meeting is set for SOTO Retreat The Pulaski Chapter will host the Sept. 9-10 Fall Meeting of the Ozark Society, to be held in Wilderness Lodge No. 7 at the beautiful Shepherd of the Ozarks resort/retreat center (S0T0) on Big Creek in Searcy County. Big Creek is a major tributary of the Buffalo National River, with beautiful bluffs, fine swimming holes, and good canoeing and fishing for smallmouth bass and Ozark bass. The 300-acre SOTO meeting-recreational complex is an outreach facility of Shepherd Ministries of Irving, Texas, and is managed by Mark and Teresa Poynter. It caters to church retreats, family reunions, and other "get-away" meetings. When the Society board met at SOTO last winter, they were so impressed with the meeting facilities at the lodges, their Southwestern decor, and the outdoor recreation opportunities that abound on site, that they wanted all members to have a chance to experience it. The Society has paid the rental fee for the Wilderness Lodge, where we will meet, but members must pay for their individual overnight sleeping accommodations. ($28 per person, age 5 and up), with a two-night minimum on weekends (Friday-Saturday). Visa/Mastercard is accepted for deposit or full payment. Wilderness Lodge No. 7 sleeps from 65 to 75 people, with 11 sleeping areas and 8 baths ( 8000 sq. ft.). The lodge is constructed of 9-inch thick logs with a spacious wraparound deck overlooking the majestic bluffs along Big Creek ( a miniature Buffalo River). Families or friends who want to get together and share one of the bunkrooms -- or whatever lodge accommodations you prefer -- are urged to finalize their plans and make reservations at SOTO as soon as possible. Call Mark or Teresa at 1-870-448-3242 during the day. They can explain the details on deposits, refunds, etc. SOTO does not normally allow camping, but has graciously provided us with a space near Wilderness Lodge for TENT CAMPING only, and campers are welcome to use the rest room/shower facilities at the Lodge. Pulaski to host Pulaski Chapter Chairman Mike Farar and his members will have the coffee pot and treats ready for registration on the lodge's patio Saturday morning about 9 a.m.. The general membership meeting will follow, with the Board meeting at noon. We will reconvene at 1:30 p.m. for the election of Ozark Society officers. By popular request, the afternoon program will be rather brief, allowing more time for informal visiting and project discussions among members. We've invited a representative of both the USFS and the National Park Service to join us and discuss the possibilities for extending the Buffalo National River Trail as an extension of the Ozark Highlands Trail (outside of any wilderness boundaries). The potluck will be held on the lodge's 20 X 50' covered patio at 6 p. m. Getting to SOTO Here's all you need to know to attend this meeting: The SOTO retreat is located in Searcy County approximately 4 miles east of Harriett, the community where Highway 27 from Marshall meets Highway 14 leading east to Mountain View. Turn east on Highway 14 at Crockett's Country Store (where you can obtain the foodstuffs you forgot to bring). There is NO restaurant at SOTO yet, so you will need to bring and prepare your own food. When you cross the Highway 14 bridge over a small creek, the sign for Searcy County Road 139 will be on the right, across the road from the gravel driveway leading to SOTO. When you see the big SOTO sign, turn and follow the little SOTO signs for approximately two miles, through the gate, and to the "Welcome Center" on the right, where you can check in. Be careful -- the gravel road in to SOTO is crooked and steep. The wilderness theme at Wilderness Lodge is carried out with trophy wildlife mounts, colorful mountain quilts, and cowboy and Indian memorabilia. The three-story lodge has 3 wood-burning fireplaces, 8 private king/queen bedrooms, several bunkrooms, and 8 baths. It's special amenities include TV/VCR and videos, a double oven, two dishwashers, two microwaves, two refrigerators, a full-size freezer, two large charcoal grills, ice machine, and a ping pong table. At present, there are no RV facilities at SOTO ( the gravel road in would be a real challenge for big rigs) so trailer campers might want to consider the overnight camping facilities at nearby Buffalo Point. The Forest Service camping facilities at Barkshed, Gunner Pool, and Blanchard Springs are only a reasonably short drive to the east. See you at SOTO! |
