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By Fred Paillet, OS Education Chair      Virtually everyone reading this newsletter believes passionately in wilderness.  We think of John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Bob Marshall and the Murie brothers whenever we hear that word.  The concept is easy for us in this country to grasp because we can envision a time when this land was a true wilderness as portrayed by the first European visitors.  The latest thinking has been modified to realize that Native Americans had been manipulating the landscape well before European settlers arrived.  This certainly must have involved fire and at least some conversion to cropland.  For example, the historic Black Hawk War (or massacre if you want to be more precise) was fought over a landscape previously modified by prehistoric inhabitants.   When the Sac leaders reluctantly agreed to restrict themselves to land west of the Mississippi, the tribal labor forces (women) were confronted with the daunting task of creating new fields from undeveloped woodland with simple hoes and hatchets.  They naturally began to infiltrate back to their old haunts where earlier years of their hard work had rendered the soil easily worked.   Pioneers were incensed by this egregious treaty violation and that [...]

By Lowell Collins, OS Community Engagement Chair & Youth Grants Vice-Chair      Last Fall, Brittany Berry’s Tyson Middle School students headed out to work on their conservation projects on Clear Creek in Johnson, AR.      Clear Creek is wooded with native flowers along gravel banks.  Ms. Berry guided two young men on setting up a 360” video of the area, giving them full creative license on how they might capture their surroundings.  The young men wasted no time working out how to use the equipment, which by the way, was recently acquired through an OS Youth Grant. After the outing, they returned to school and edited the video, making their own choices in regard to the natural features they wished to share with their classmates. It was an outstanding experience. Ms. Berry’s 2024 project was to purchase underwater and 360̊ camera equipment for students to create video experiences in six natural areas in NWA to be shared with classmates who have had minimal exposure to the natural environment. The hope is that the enthusiasm of those creating and sharing the videos will encourage interest in our natural surroundings, and that they too, will want to go out [...]

By Brian Thompson, Ozark Society President Jodie Been, from Hackett, is a January winner of the Ozark Society Sassafras Hiking Award.  The award requires hikers to complete the Ozark Highland’s Trail, the Ouachita Trail, the Ozark Trail in Missouri, and the Buffalo River Trail, for a grand total of roughly 700+ miles.      Interestingly, Jodie has also completed the Appalachian Trail.  She started hiking it with her husband during Covid, learning that she loved the hiking part (more so than her husband) but didn’t care so much for the camping.  As a result, she tackled the AT over the course of three years, supported by her husband, staying in lodging when possible.  Her second year was cut short when she realized after some three days in the Smokies, that she’d somehow fractured her leg.      Regarding her worst day on the Arkansas trails, she can’t really pinpoint just one, but noted that hiking can be sort of a “bipolar” activity, in that you can start out enjoying a beautiful and glorious morning and end the day in miserable weather.     She notes that the Ozark Trail felt the easiest, followed by the Ouachita, with the Highlands [...]

By Stewart Noland, Archive Chair The Ozark Society will host a five-night, six-day Buffalo River float trip from June 2 – 7. 2025.  Depending on water level the trip will put in at Carver and take out at Dillards Ferry, or put in at Grinders Ferry and take out at Riley’s on the White River.  A decision as to the launch location (Carver or Grinders Ferry) will be made a few days ahead of the trip and will be communicated to trip participants via text.      We will meet at 10:30 a.m. on June 2, unload and pack for the trip, start running the shuttle about noon, and return to the put in and launch.  We will spend the nights of June 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 on the river.  We will take out on June 7.      Wild Bill’s Outfitter will help us run shuttle.  Each car to be shuttled will be driven to the take-out point by its owner.  Wild Bill will shuttle the drivers back to the put in.  The cost of the shuttle is $50 per car, which cost is to be paid by the driver, directly to Wild Bill, and is [...]

By Carolyn Shearman and Bayou Chapter Ozark Society Earl Hillard: He was a good, kind, and dear man. He never met a stranger and was the first to welcome a newcomer. He was always happy to help in any situation whatever the need. He had joy in his heart and a twinkle in his eyes. Family and friends will forever remember his kindness, compassion and positive nature.     Earl was born in Casey, IL, and his family later moved to Cisne, IL. Earl joined the United States Air Force in 1951 and after 20 years of service he retired in 1971 as a Senior Master Sergeant. His last station was the Pentagon in Washington D.C. It was his military retirement that brought him back to Arkansas, a place that he loved for its natural beauty. As a civilian Earl enjoyed a career in computing services first at University of Arkansas Medical Sciences and later at University of Arkansas at Little Rock.   Earl loved the outdoors and was an avid hiker, canoeist, and camper. He was a longtime member of The Arkansas Canoe Club, The Ozark Society, and helped to build a section of the Ozark Highlands Trail. [...]

By David Keys and sent to Brittany Plouch, OS Outreach Chair Buffalo River Memories:      My dad owned about 12 acres on the Buffalo River in northwest Arkansas south of Yellville and east of Highway 14. His place was in Jones Hole on Jones Bend. The 430-foot Toney Bluff overlooks Jones Bend and looks down on Jones Hole and my dad’s place. Without knowing where his place was you can spot it easily by looking for what looks like a Duck’s Head on the map. The Buffalo is about 150 miles long and the Duck’s Head is on the far eastern end of the river as it gets closer to joining the White River at Buffalo City, Arkansas. Jones Hole and dad’s place was slightly below the duck’s neck on the west side. He bought the land in 1970 and over the next couple years built a cabin of not much more than 500 square feet. There was no running water, electricity, or gas. Eventually, he dammed up a spring and ran a water line to the house so there was running water. He brought in a propane fuel tank to run a hot water heater and a [...]

By Jennifer Ailor, Climate Change Committee Chair In spite of slow progress to address climate change, there are hopeful signs of the role influencers, technology and political action can play. Here are a few examples gleaned from several magazines over the last year. Abolishing fossil fuels in our lifetime               Two centuries ago, people scoffed that boycotting sugar could end slavery, starting in England. Yet it did in 1821. Today, as author Jason Mark writes in “Abolish Fossil Fuels, A Moral Case for Ending the Age of Coal, Oil and Gas,” in the fall 2024 Sierra magazine, “we know that every joule of fossil fuel energy avoided by conservation or replaced by wind and solar helps to unravel the power of the Carbon Barons. The bike trip to the grocery store, the rooftop solar installation, the weatherization of windows, the purchase of an electric vehicle, the one-liner written on the placard carried at the climate march—each of these actions helps, like the sugar boycott, to shift the terrain of the possible…Your resolution will influence that of your friends and neighbors; the example will spread from house to house, from city to city.” Battery changes [...]