News & Updates

URGENT REQUEST FOR OZARK SOCIETY COMMENTS: C & H HOG FARM PERMIT MODIFICATION WHAT IS AT RISK? Water quality in the Buffalo National River WHAT IS THE THREAT? Untreated hog waste released from the C & H hog farm in Mt. Judea, Arkansas. Untreated, land applied-hog waste from the C & H hog farm located in Mount Judea, Arkansas runs off into Big Creek. Big Creek supplies much of the surface water flow into the Buffalo River. Runoff from hog waste applied to fields at C & H will enter Big Creek and then flow into the Buffalo National River. WHAT YOU CAN DO: Comment by email or regular mail on the C & H Hog Farm Permit Modification C & H Hog Farm (factory) has applied to ADEQ for a permit modification to allow use of a vac-tanker truck to spread untreated hog waste from storage Pond 2 on surrounding fields. Ultimately, we would like the entire permit to be re-opened for public comment. Please send a brief comment to ADEQ based on the information provided by regular mail or email. The deadline for written comments via email or regular mail is April 17th by 4:30 PM, Central Time. A short [...]

The Environmental Protection Agency has released a proposal to address haze concerns in national parks in Arkansas and Missouri that would require retrofitting six power plants in Arkansas with emission-control scrubbers to curb air pollution at a cost estimated to top $1 billion for utilities. Public comment on the plan ends May 16, and a public hearing will be held April 16 at the Department of Environmental Quality's headquarters at 5301 Northshore Drive in North Little Rock.  Schedule: 9 - 11:30 am - presentation and public comment.  Please take the time to comment if you cannot come to the hearing. Submit your comment in favor of the plan by sending to this email address:   R6AIR_ARHaze@epa.gov .  Put this docket number in your subject line: EPA-R06-OAR-2015-0189. Clean Air and better visibility in the Ozarks (the Buffalo River and Wildernesses, Caney Creek Wilderness and the Ouachitas where all of us love to recreate, is truly important now and into a cleaner, more sustainable energy future. CLICK HERE to see excellent talking points, provided by the Sierra Club, which will help guide your letter writing.

Bobby Stout, our long-time river companion and fellow-paddler, died Friday, March 20. Bobby loved being on the water and especially on the Buffalo. He was a happy camper on many of our annual Buffalo River trips. He was a great storyteller and excellent chef.  He will be greatly missed. His memorial service will be Saturday, March 28th, 2:00 PM  in Clinton, AR at the Roller-McNutt Funeral Home.  It is located on Hwy. 65, next to Walmart. http://www.rollerfuneralhomes.com/services.asp?locid=&page=odetail&id=37507                      

The Highlands Chapter will host the Ozark Society’s Spring Outing by inviting all Ozark Society members, hikers, floaters, and lovers of the Buffalo River to the chapter’s 6th Annual Buffalo River Classic on Saturday, March 21, 2015.  You should pre-register for each event by March 18 - see link below for information. There will be three simultaneous events at this one-day recreational outing:  a long “marathon” hike, several shorter “regular” day-hikes, and a canoe-kayak float.  Participants in all three events will converge at the Ozark Campground Pavilion on the Buffalo River near Jasper AR for a cookout/potluck at 4:00 p.m.  Everyone is welcome to the cookout whether or not they participate in the hikes or the float.  And, everyone is welcome to participate in this event whether an Ozark Society member or not. Camping and Overnighting:  Although this is a one-day Saturday event, participants driving from distant chapters may want to overnight in the Jasper AR/Buffalo River area.  FYI, distances to Ozark Campground from the six OS chapters are:  45 mi from Gilbert AR, 80 mi from Fayetteville AR, 97 mi from Bentonville AR, 146 mi from Little Rock AR, 277 mi from Cape Girardeau MO, and 350 mi from Shreveport LA.  [...]

Don't miss reading this excellent article, written with clarity and with the integrity that authors Ed Bethune and Vic Snyder bring to their continuing public service. The article captures all the complex issues swirling around factory hog farms, locally and nationally. We thank them for joining the battle  to protect the river from the hog farm more than a year ago. Click Here - thehill.com-Pig Farm Threatens Buffalo River    

Special notice should be given to Bayou Chapter members Adam and Lisa Willard. On March 28th the Louisiana Wildlife Federation will honor them with the Annual Governors Achievement  Award for Volunteer work.  An excerpt from the notice follows. Dear Mr. & Mrs. Willard,  I am pleased to inform you that you have been named Volunteer Conservationists of the Year for 2014 in the Annual Governor's Conservation Achievement Recognition Program conducted by the Louisiana Wildlife Federation.  Celebrating its 51st year, this awards program seeks to recognize those individuals, organizations and businesses that have made significant contributions to the cause of conservation and wise use of Louisiana's natural resources in 2014. The award will be presented at a banquet to be held in your honor the evening of Saturday, March 28, from 6pm to 9pm at Juban’s Restaurant in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Details of the event will soon be posted on our website at www.lawildlifefed.org, and a press release will be sent out later this week.” Congratulations to Adam and Lisa!

A message from Ken Smith: In spite of uncertainties as this is written in early January, volunteers are to resume work on the Buffalo River Hiking Trail the middle of March. Presently volunteers cannot work within the 5.5-mile middle section of the trail. In that section a tract of private land sits astride the trail route. Efforts are underway to acquire the tract for the National Park Service. If the tract is not acquired by mid-March (and that's a very tight deadline), volunteers this Spring can work elsewhere "Elsewhere" means completing short stretches of unfinished trail along the remainder of the entire 28-mile project. This work also needs to be done, and volunteers would see many interesting parts of the trail. Whatever happens, volunteers have only about 2-1/2 miles left to complete all they can do in building the trail. Beyond that, a Park Service trail crew will need to install flights of rock steps, then develop parking spaces at trailheads, and finally install directional signs. College students from Texas State University are to build trail during the week of March 15 - 21. Students from the University of Illinois will work the week of March 22 - 28, and students [...]

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) will hold a public hearing at North Little Rock February 2, 2015, to receive comments on the proposed five-year regional haze progress report on a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision prior to submission of the revised plan to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The hearing will begin at 2:00 p.m. (Central Time) in the Commission Room at the ADEQ Headquarters Building, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Little Rock. The deadline for submitting comments on the SIP revisions is 4:30 p.m. (Central Time) February 17, 2015.   Click for more information: ADEQ-Public Notice of Hearing 2-2-15  

The  Red River Cleanup, supported by the Bayou Chapter of the Ozark Society, has been covered in the Shreveport Times. Click to see article: A doghouse-corset-toilet-freezer-meth-lab    

A U.S District Court Judge in Arkansas found today that in the case of a 6500-hog industrial facility located in the Buffalo River Watershed just 6 miles from the Buffalo National River, “the public interest is best-served by ensuring that federal tax dollars aren’t backing a farm that could be harming natural resources and an endangered species.” Today, U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas D. Price Marshall issued a decision in an action brought by local, state, and national conservation groups against two federal agencies. The Court found that the federal agencies arbitrarily and capriciously guaranteed loans to the C&H factory farm near the Buffalo National River by failing to take a hard look at environmental impacts and failing to follow proper procedures to protect threatened and endangered species potentially affected by the facility. The following are statements regarding the decision issued today: “The Court saw the federal government agencies’ actions for what they were—a disdain and complete disregard for the laws that protect our environment,” said Earthjustice attorney Hannah Chang. “We believe the Court’s decision will help to set things straight in this debacle that has put more than $3.6 million in federal taxpayer dollars on the [...]