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Pack and Paddle |
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Pack and Paddle |
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Conservation Observations
By Paul Means
Because of the tragic events of Sept. 11, our country has taken some long-overdue steps to
improve security. Unfortunately, some members of Congress are attempting to use Sept. 11
as an excuse for some pretty
outrageous things.
For example, Sen. Kit Bonds of Missouri introduced an amendment to the Farm Bill giving
the President broad authority to waive environmental and food safety laws if they have a
significant adverse economic impact on farmers. Sen. Bonds was joined in this action by
Sen. Chuck Grassely of Iowa, Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, Sen. Charles Hagel of Nebraska,
and Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia.
The amendment allows the President to exempt farmers from every known environmental law,
food safety law, and even the civil rights law. The only restriction on the President's
power to waive these laws is he cannot do it
if it endangers national security. While 54 senators voted against this sweeping
amendment, it is very disconcerting to know that 43 senators actually voted for it!
A colonel with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was reported to have said in a speech that
the requirement for a permit to drain wetlands needed to be repealed in the interest of
national security!
You can draw your own conclusions about our federal government.
Meanwhile, on the home front, the River Valley Water District wants to dam Lee Creek, a
popular Ozark canoeing and smallmouth bass fishing stream, follows a winding course,
starting in Arkansas, wandering over into Oklahoma, and then returning to Arkansas.
Over strenuous opposition from conservation organizations, the City of Fort Smith was able
to build a dam for a water supply on the lower section of the creek. However, the segment
of Lee Creek in Oklahoma is a state scenic river, and as a result the lake stops before
the Oklahoma state line.
Fortunately, the city leaders of Fort Smith, AR appear to have learned something about the
wise use of resources from this dam building experience.
Fort Smith officials are currently in the process of raising the height of the dam on Lake
Fort Smith to increase the water supply. Expanding an existing lake has advantages over
building a new one. Built into their plans is enough water to serve the surrounding
communities, including some in Oklahoma. However, politics being politics, the smaller
communities in this area of Arkansas want their own lake and local fiefdom and have formed
the ³River Valley Water District² to try and get it.
They would like to build a dam on the upper segment of Lee Creek, which is now designated
as an ³Extraordinary Resource Water² under Arkansas Water Quality Standards. Because of
this ERW designation, they cannot get a permit. Thinking somewhat like our federal
leaders, the district has asked the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to
just simply remove the designation!
You can draw your own conclusions about our local government.
The DEQ staff opposes this idea, but must go through the process of reviewing the request.
The Ozark Society and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service are already on record in
opposition to the requested change. It is likely a public hearing will be held in the
spring. The Ozark Society will be involved in opposing this proposed change of status for
Lee Creek. No doubt other Arkansas conservation organizations and individual anglers will
also strongly oppose it. Bear Creek Dam on the Buffalo National River isn't the only ³dam
fight² in progress.
We owe our thanks to long-time Ozark Society member Phil Lorenz of Oklahoma, who has
worked long and hard to preserve wild and scenic rivers in the Sooner State, for keeping
us informed about developments on Lee Creek.
Pack & Paddle
Winter 200l-02
CURRENTS
By Stewart Noland, president
The Ozark Society
An important part of the Ozark Society's mission is the preservation of unique natural
areas, wild and scenic rivers, and wilderness. The reasons for our mission and the
benefits we derive from these special places are
numerous.
Recently, I was provided with a reminder of why this is true.
After and during heavy rainfall, a friend and I drove to the Richland Creek Campground on
Dec. 16, 2001, in search of what promised to be an exciting whitewater paddling trip.
Richland Creek Campground is located on Richland Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo
National River, at its confluence with Falling Water Creek. The USFS campground is on the
eastern edge of the Richland Creek Wilderness in the Ozark National Forest in Newton and
Searcy counties, Arkansas.
The Richland Creek Wilderness encompasses 11,822 acres in the Boston Mountains. This area
includes such outstanding streams as the Devils Fork and Long Devils Fork, which split
around Big Middle Ridge to create the famous Twin Falls of the Devils Fork. Downstream is
located Richland Falls on Richland Creek and Falling Water Creek. The area has a peak
elevation of 2,200 feet and is one of the most beautiful places in the Arkansas Ozarks.
By late morning on Dec. 16, Richland Creek at the Campground Bridge was flowing at a level
of 5.1 on the gauge, a relatively high and robust level for open boats on the Upper
Richland Creek. We had paddled lower Richland Creek the week before, so this time we opted
to paddle Falling Water Creek from its intersection with Forest Service Road 1205 on the
southwest edge of the Wilderness to its confluence with Richland Creek at the Campground,
a distance of about 4 miles.
Falling Water Creek more or less forms the eastern edge of the Richland Creek Wilderness
south of the campground. A couple of Forest Service roads and more developed areas lie to
the east of Falling Water Creek, while only drainage from Richland Creek Wilderness lies
to the west.
Falling Water Creek was relatively high and fast, but as we paddled it that rainy day, I
noticed a distinct difference in the quality of water in the numerous tributaries that
feed Falling Water Creek's flow. Almost all of the tributaries were flowing from 6-inches
to 2-feet deep. The tributaries from the east were more turbid and slightly cloudy.
However, in contrast, the tributaries flowing from Richland Creek Wilderness to our west
were crystal clear, even during a fairly significant rainfall event.
Enhanced water quality is but one of many of the benefits of designated wilderness on
public lands, and this particular wilderness benefit was clearly evident as we progressed
downstream!
This enhanced water quality not only benefits Richland Creek, it also benefits the prized
smallmouth bass population in the Buffalo River, trout in the upper White River, and
largemouth bass and other sport fish in the lower White River Country far downstream. The
water quality provided by the Richland Creek Wilderness also benefits the residents of
Mountain View and Batesville who obtain their drinking water form the White River, and
even the ocean creatures who live at the mouth of the Mississippi River in a landscape far
different from the Ozark Mountains.
I am thankful for our designated public land wilderness areas, not only in Arkansas, but
all over our country, and I am proud that the Ozark Society has worked for almost four
decades now to help preserve these special places. We enjoy and benefit from them today;
our descendents will enjoy and benefit from them in the days to come.
As the saying goes, ³Let¹s pass it on.²
DEADLINE: SPRING 2002
ISSUE OF P&P! MARCH 1
Pack & Paddle is published on a flexible quarterly basis (spring, summer, fall and
winter). State directors, or the person they appoint for this task, usually the
chapter newsletter editors, are responsible for gathering and reporting news of their
Society activities and local/regional conservation issues in their respective locales.
Articles and photos from individual members are also welcome. Photographs can be either
color prints and/or black and white prints (no slides please!) Send copy and photographs
to Communications Chairman/Editor John Heuston, 25 Aberdeen Dr., Little Rock AR 72223.
Telephone is 1-501-868-8177. The E-mail address is ozarkjheu@aol.com.
All possible care will be taken with your submissions, but we are not responsible for copy
or photos lost, stolen, or damaged in the publication process. Stuff happens. If you send
a diskette, be sure it is formatted for Macintosh. Include a SSAE if you want your photos
returned! Please put us on the mailing list for all chapter newsletters.
Fall Meet Was Big Success
By John Heuston
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. There is also such a thing
as ³Jambalaya, Crawfish Pie, and Filet Gumbo² in real life as well as in song and boy,
is it ever GOOD!
Chairman Clay Pennington and his compatriots in the Bayou Chapter
turned out in force to make the Fall 2001 meeting of the Ozark Society the first ever
held in Louisiana a big success and a whole lot of fun.
As they say down there, ³Laissez Le Bon Tempes Rouler,² or
³Let The Good Times Roll,² and they certainly did!
Yeah, it rained some on Saturday, but nobody seemed to
care. The cabins, group lodging and camping facilities at Lake Bistineau State Park,
located in northeast Louisiana near the town of Doyline in Webster Parish,
were excellent.
We were able to hold our business meeting and social gatherings
indoors and out of the rain. However, the showers didn't deter those canoeists who chose
to follow the ³Monster Canoe² along the winding canoe trails in the lake that the Bayou
Chapter had helped mark and clear before our arrival. Others chose to ride their mountain
bikes (sans mountains) along the bike trails or hike in the wooded areas near
headquarters.
We were headquartered in the Group Camp site of Area l at Lake
Bistineau and the private cabins were only a short drive away. These comfortable cabins
offered a great view of cypress-dotted Lake Bistineau. In the mornings, we went looking
for alligators along the shoreline. We didn't see any, but others said they did.
Alligators are fun to watch -- as long as you see them first!
Chuck Jones of the Louisiana State Parks and Tourism Dept., a
ranger-naturalist, gave us a good overview of the Louisiana philosophy of managing parks.
One of their goals is to build new facilities to blend in with older facilities and the
³historical environment.² They promote ³low impact² development as much as possible,
such as low impact roads and walk-in or paddle-in campsites that keep auto traffic to a
minimum. In Louisiana, tourism is their second largest industry; generating $6 billion in
1996. Also, a genealogy-conscious citizenry has made historical tourism more popular than
ever as they trace ancestral roots and tread the battlegrounds of their forbearers.
Getting Down To Business
For obvious reasons, we don't cover the Society's business
session decisions in detail in this publication, which is widely circulated and available
to both our friends and our enemies.
However, reports were presented on various projects. Steve
Noland and his group are doing a great job of tracking down early Ozark Society members
and recording their stories on video for our Oral History Project. There are more people
we'd like to interview, especially in Louisiana.
The board of directors discussed the ongoing problem of
excessive gravel mining pollution in Crooked Creek, caused by scofflaw miners who consider
the piddling fines imposed as just a ³license to steal;² a proposed new dam on Lee Creek
in the Ozarks; and the illegal so-called ³water supply² dam on Bear Creek proposed by
the Searcy County Regional Water District (appropriately abbreviated as ³SCRWD). If
built, this dam will damage the integrity of the Buffalo National River and set a
dangerous precedent for damming other tributaries of the BNR that now sustain the river in
its Congressionally- mandated ³free flowing² condition.
Financial Chairman Bob Ritchie passed out his annual membership
and financial report. In brief, we're doing well, thank you, but could always use more --
so encourage your outdoor-minded friends to join the Ozark Society.
The board discussed the status of the Ozark Highlands Trail
extension, which is still under study. Arkansas Director Duane Woltjen of Fayetteville
brought us up to date on the progress of volunteers who are marking the route of a new
hiking trail along the beautiful Spring Creek drainage in the Sylamore District of the
Ozark National Forest.
Arkansas Director Judy Parker of Little Rock reported that 44
outdoor outfitting shops now provide Ozark Society brochures and information to their
customers. She urged members to inform her of other outdoor shops that are willing to
display Ozark Society information for their customers.
The board also heard a presentation from leaders of a group
seeking to implement a Œrails to trails¹ project in Louisiana that would also be an
economic boost for small towns along the route that currently have no ³economic engine²
to stimulate growth.
We've asked for more information.
Later, some of us history buffs opted to tour the fabled
ante-bellum ³Shadows Plantation² nearby, which is being restored to its former glory.
Craig Watson of the Bayou Chapter was responsible for this tour and it represents the type
of ³historical tourism² that is becoming increasingly popular with the public and
important to saving our pioneer heritage.
A Feast Fit For Kings
With the business session, orienteering, fly-fishing
demonstrations, and other outdoor activities behind us, we settled down Saturday evening
to one of the more serious aspects of any Ozark Society meeting eating.
For this fall meeting, the traditional potluck was set
aside so that the Bayou Chapter could introduce us to Louisiana cooking at its finest
and they did. They promised us storied Louisiana fare Jambalaya, crawfish pie, and
filet gumbo --and that's what we got in copious amounts. It was delicious.
The annual down-and-dirty Dutch Oven Cookoff was also part
of the fare, but this year First Place honors went to Mike Rech of Shreveport; Stewart
Noland of Little Rock came in second; and Jenny Scales of Shreveport won third place
honors. But, there were no losers every bite of each contestant's offering was First
Class!
After the meal, we were entertained by folk Musicians Monty and
Martha Brown of Shreveport, popular entertainers in the region, who were very good indeed.
It seemed that almost everybody in the Bayou Chapter did
something to help make this historic meeting a big success. Chairman Clay Peninger
suggested that we give special thanks to the following: Kitchen Team Leaders: Craig and
Phyllis Watson for the jambalaya; Marion Howard and Karen Peninger for the crawfish pie;
Kenny and Sandy Miller for the gumbo; Vickie Rech and Kathy Kramer for the salad; and
everybody else that helped out in the kitchen.
Maurice Loridans was responsible for the entertainment; Jim
Huggins, Gary Hackman and Jenny Scales handled the orienteering; Carol Burnstein was
responsible for the fly fishing lessons; David Pitts handled the biking; Craig Watson the
tour of Shadows Plantation; and Bill Beebe arranged for the speaker from Louisiana
Tourism.
Those of us who traveled from Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma
and elsewhere to attend this wonderful meeting want to thank everyone in the Bayou
Chapter. We also gained a greater appreciation for the great distances our Bayou brethren
regularly travel to hike, canoe and otherwise enjoy the Ozark and Ouachita mountain
regions that most of us can reach with only a short drive from our homes.
Scholarship Fund Update
The drive to create the Neil Compton Scholarship Fund at the
University of Arkansas, honoring our founding president, Dr. Neil Compton of Bentonville,
has now grown to slightly more than $4000, according to Ozark
Society Financial Chair Bob Ritchie.
However, we have a long way to go to reach our $25,000 goal,
which is needed to establish the fund for upper level students in the natural resources
field. Once established at this level, the fund will sustain
itself.
To make a tax deductible contribution to the fund, make your
check payable to the Ozark Society Foundation and mail it to the Ozark Society, Inc., P O
Box 2914, Little Rock, AR 72203.
Reminder: Dues are due!
Financial Chair Bob Ritchie reminds us that Ozark Society dues
for 2002 are now due and payable.
In case you've forgotten: individual and family dues are $15;
contributing, $25; affiliated groups (schools, clubs, etc. $25; and life (one-time
payment) $200. Although the Ozark Society does not require members to belong to chapters,
such membership will definitely heighten your enjoyment of the Society and introduce you
to some great outdoor places and even greater outdoor people! However, to join one of our
autonomous chapters, you DO have to be a member of the Ozark Society!
The chapters and their dues structures are as follows: Highlands,
northwest Arkansas, $5; Pulaski, central Arkansas, $10; Bayou, Shreveport, LA, $10;
Buffalo River, north central Arkansas, $10; Schoolcraft, Springfield, MO, $5; Mississippi
Valley, Cape Girardeau, MO, $5; and Indian Nations, OK, $5.
You can pay your chapter dues directly to each chapter treasurer,
or mail both chapter dues and Ozark Society dues to Ozark Society, Inc., P O Box 2914,
Little Rock, AR 72203. You can belong to as many chapters as you desire, or your
pocketbook will stand!
THE UNEASY CHAIR
By John Heuston
Communications Chairman
No question about it, 2001 was a strange year, what with the
cowardly terrorist attacks on New York and Washington having a rippling effect far from
the anthrax-tainted contaminated federal office buildings.
Take our Bear Creek Dam lawsuit, for example.
It seems that a lot of folks just aren't opening their mail these
days. Remember Sen. Blanche Lincoln's plea not to send her letters, but to use e-mail
instead? Therefore, our law firm advises that they haven't been able to confirm that all
those people who need to be served with various legal notices by process servers have been
contacted and have responded. Until that happens, Judge Bill Wilson is not going to set a
trial date!
So, at press time, we're in a holding pattern on justice for Bear
Creek!
Grand Prairie Rip-off
We continue to be bemused by the antics of Mike Huckabee, our
current governor and comedian-in-chief.
Back in December, after being deluged with post cards from the
conservation community opposing the hotly controversial and very expensive Grand Prairie
Area Demonstration Project the governor's office sent all of us who had objected in
writing to this latest Army Engineers¹ ³Keep Busy² bonanza a 3-page letter. In
Huckabee¹s letter he decried the ³misinformation² conservationists had been given and
praised the supposed ³benefits² of the project.
I don't know which aide (or Farm Bureau PR flack) compiled this
essay for him, but whoever it was obviously had not read the comprehensive Wildlife
Management Institute study which took the Corps¹ own questionable figures and simply tore
this irrigation project apart!
The Wildlife Management Institute (WMI), an organization of
natural resources professionals, is one of America's oldest and most prestigious
conservation organizations. It does not grovel before governors and their pet projects as
some state agencies are prone to do.
For those not familiar with the GPADP, here's a brief summary:
The Corps¹ proposes to spend $319 million of our tax dollars (probably much more) to
divert up to 115 BILLION gallons of irrigation water annually from the White River to
serve about 900 farmers in the Grand Prairie area half of whom strongly oppose the
project! Why? The opposing farmers believe they can provide their own irrigation water
cheaper and more efficiently than the government can do it. Some of them already have
built their own on-site farm storage reservoirs to supply their irrigation needs.
By way of contrast, the Wildlife Management Institute recommends
a ³sustainable alternative² based on optimizing irrigation efficiency from 60
percent to 80 percent or higher; maximizing on-farm irrigation storage reservoirs; and
using public money to convert unsustainable cropland into less-water demanding uses, such
as alternative crops, ecosystem restoration, and wildlife recreation.²
This alternative is supported by such organizations as the
Arkansas Chapter of the American Fisheries Society; Arkansas Chapter of the Wildlife
Society; Arkansas Wildlife Federation; National Wildlife Federation; White River
Conservancy; and local organizations like the Augusta and Clarendon chambers of commerce
and the Augusta Improvement Club. The WMI¹s sustainable alternative is not cheap, at $158
million, but it is a lot less than $319
million!
As the Institute researchers observed:² A $319 million project
proposal that does not meet any of its objectives is a failure.²
Also, the Institute's research indicates the Corps has been
exaggerating the extent of the problem (surprise!) Using the Corps¹ own studies and
analysis, the Institute's staff determined that the actual maximum size of the Grand
Prairie's irrigation ³problem² is not 362,662 acres, but no more than 94,692 acres!
The Institute's 36-page report covers all aspects of this issue
in detail, but it is too lengthy to repeat here. However, the report concludes that:
³Further the Corps¹ $319 million unsustainable proposal would
launch Arkansas into a new era of subsidized, large-scale intensive irrigation projects
that would tap, divert and compromise several of the state's publicly-owned rivers. The
GPADP, if implemented, would pave the way for at least 12 other irrigation projects across
Arkansas that, ultimately, would re-plumb the landscape and the water resources of the
state's agricultural regions.
³Such massive engineering projects, at best, provide only
short-term remedies for the symptoms of the deeper, larger problems of unsustainable water
demand and land use. At worst, such projects solve no identified problems, while creating
and compounding other problems, at tremendous costs to taxpayers and natural resources.
³The sustainable alternative provides Arkansas and the nation an
opportunity to choose a long-term solution at less than half the cost. It is time for
Arkansas to begin aligning agricultural and society uses of the Grand Prairie with the
land's inherent capacity to sustain itself.²
Amen to that! Oh brother Huckabee, where art thou?²
BUFFALO POINT IS SITE FOR
APRIL 19-21 SPRING MEETING
Pulaski Chapter Chairman Mike Farar and his members are now busy
organizing the Ozark Society Spring Meeting at Buffalo Point on the Buffalo National River
the long weekend of April 19-21, 2002.
Believe it or not, the Ozark Society will be FORTY YEARS YOUNG on
May 24, of this year! Therefore, aside from the usual current business at hand, the
central theme of this Spring rendezvous will focus on the history of the Ozark Society and
how we came to spearhead the campaign to prevent the Buffalo River from being dammed first
at Gilbert and probably again later downriver at Lone Rock (a dam authorized by Congress
but never funded).
We hope to have a lot of veteran members at the meeting to mingle
with old friends and swap stories. Dr. Neil Compton, our founding president, warned us
repeatedly that the Buffalo National River would always need our guardianship and
protection because its beauty and reputation attracts developers and their various
³improvement² schemes like iron filings to a magnet.
We'll have more detailed information on the meeting agenda and
program in the Spring issue of P&P, but here is what you need to know NOW:
Headquarters for the Saturday and Sunday activities will be located at our familiar
³Upper Pavilion on the hill above the road leading down to the campsites and river. We've
reserved the two adjoining group campsites for Friday and Saturday.
Buffalo Point also has RV campsites with electrical hookups,
water, and nearby showers. Newcomers who want more information can call the NPS office at
Buffalo Point (1-870-449-4311). They also have a TDD number for the hearing impaired
(1-970-741-2884.
For rental cabins at Buffalo Point, call Buffalo Point
Concessions at 1-870-449-6206. If these sources at Buffalo Point aren't available call the
National Park Service main office at Harrison (1-870-741-5443) and they can advise you. If
you're not a camper, motel lodging is available at nearby Marshall or Yellville.
This historic meeting will be a memorable event don't miss it.
Pack & Paddle
Spring 2001
Back page mailing surface
SOCIETY OFFICERS: President, Stewart Noland, 5210 Sherwood Rd., Little Rock, AR
72207, (501)-666-2989; Immediate past president, Barbara Meyer, 29 Pleasant Valley Dr.,
Little Rock, AR 72212 (501) 228-6600; Vice President, Alice Andrews, 3817 Compton, Little
Rock, AR 72205 (501) 663-3023; Recording Secretary, Brenda Crites, 1440 No. Henderson,
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701(573-335-4521 critterncape@prodigy.net;
Financial Chair, Bob Ritchie, 1509 Old Forge Rd., Little Rock, AR 72227 (501) 225-1795,
fax 219-9316 britchie@aol.com; Communications
Chair/Editor, Pack & Paddle newsletter, John Heuston, 25 Aberdeen Dr., Little Rock, AR
72223 (501) 868-8177/ ozarkjheu@aol.com;
Conservation Chair Paul Means, 3 Keswick Cove, Little Rock, AR 722l2 (501) 221-9870/means4@aol.com; Recreation Chair Kathy
Kramer, 5011 Rosedown Lane, Bossier City, LA711112 (318)742-9992; Education Chair,
Ellen Compton, PO Box 3385, Fayetteville, AR 72702 (501)575-7253; Membership Chair, Bill
Steward, 810 Koehler, Sherwood, AR 72120 (501)835-3390/Steward 810@aol.com; Ozark Society Supplies and Publications,
Isabelle Roach, 4818 North Shobe Rd., Alexander, AR 72002 (501) 847-3738.
STATE DIRECTORS: ARKANSAS, Judy Parker, 2717 Charter Oak, Little Rock, AR 72207
(501) 225-0913/ jmp@aristotle.net and Duane
Woltjen, 821 Applebury Dr., Fayetteville, AR (501) 521 7032/ ozarktraveler@links.com; MISSOURI, Dr. Sally
Hubbard, 4654 So. Palmer, Springfield, MO 65804 (417) 883-7658; LOUISIANA, Okley Davis,
203 Whispering Pines Rd., Haughton, LA 71037 (318) 949-2518 and Catherine Hill, 206
Elizabeth St., Manghum, LA 71259, (318) 248-2901/ Chill22@bayou.com;
OKLAHOMA, Phil Lorenz, Bartlesville, OK 74003 (918) 336-2069.
MEMBERSHIP: Dues for membership in the Ozark Society, Inc. are individual and
family, $15; contributing, $25; affiliated groups (schools, clubs, etc. $25; and life
(one-time payment) $200. Chapter membership adds to the fun and fellowship of Ozark
Society membership, but is not required. However, the autonomous chapters do require
membership in the Ozark Society and their dues structures are as follows: Highlands,
northwest AR, $5; Pulaski, central Arkansas, $10; Bayou, Shreveport, LA, $10; Buffalo
River, north central AR, $10; Schoolcraft, Springfield, MO, $5; Mississippi Valley, Cape
Girardeau, MO, $5; and Indian Nations, OK, $5. Mail one check for both Society and chapter
dues to the Ozark Society, Inc., PO Box 2914, Little Rock, AR 72203.
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