Ozark Society - Highlands Chapter Member Teresa Turk has revised her documentary film. To view the updated version of this comprehensive documentary, click "continue reading" and then the link: Revised - A Mighty Struggle
Conservation Chair Alice Andrews submitted the following report on the March 28 PC&E meeting: PC&E had directed ADEQ to come up with a plan for a "Task Force to study the possibility of banning large CAFOS in the Buffalo River Watershed". They were to propose a member list of Task Force Stakeholders from organizations and state agencies and to report their conclusions in January 2015. In the meantime, the Ozark Society and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel decided to join forces to notify PC&E that we are filing a petition for 3rd Party Rulemaking to ban any future medium and large CAFOs from the Buffalo River Watershed. This would require a modification of Regulations 5 and 6 related to Individual and General Permits for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. We believe that this process would be faster than waiting for the Task Force recommendations. After extensive discussion on the Task Force proposal, the Commission voted unanimously to proceed with 3rd Party Rulemaking, and to place the Task Force on hold for the time being. One Commissioner tried to also request a moratorium on any more hog farms for six months while the 3rd Party Rulemaking moves forward. That motion was tabled until [...]
It has become apparent that C&H Hog Farm misrepresented its authority to use several fields as sprayfields in its Nutrient Management Plan (NMP) for its hog operation. Property owners of land in three of these fields had denied permission to include their land in the sprayfield area. Both ADEQ and C&H were aware that there were issues with the owners of these fields. Now a portion of the land has been used in the state-funded U of A water monitoring project. This means over a half million dollars in taxpayer money was used for water monitoring on fields which should not have been included in the NMP to begin with, and should not have been used in testing by the University. See Links below for today's Press Release regarding this new development as well as a letter addressed to ADEQ requesting that the C&H permit be re-opened. The ADEQ letter includes backup documentation from the landowners. Landowner Press Release_FINAL ADEQ Letter 2-12-2014 with Attachments
Recently the New York Times covered the debate about the C&H Hog Farm in Mt. Judea. To read that article as well as Mike Masterson's response to it, click on the links below: New York Times: 2,500 Pigs Join Debate Over Farms vs. Scenery; Mike Masterson: Swine vs. Scenery?
The 2014 Colorado high adventure trip this year will be Sunday July 13 thru Saturday July 19. The campground reservations have been made at the Cascade Campground in the Collegiate Peaks area of the San Isabel National Forest. The campground is located on County Road 162 west of Nathrop, Colorado. The trip is limited to 60 people so if you want to go you need to send in your reservation in by June 1, 2014 You should plan to arrive at the campground by mid-afternoon Sunday July 13. The first meal will be that evening. All meals will be provided through dinner on Friday July 18 as part of the trip. If you prefer motel accommodations to camping, you can make reservations at nearby Mount Princeton Hot Springs Lodge, 15870 County Road 162, Nathrop, Colorado, 719-395-2361. Meals at the campground will be provided for all trip participants, regardless of whether you are camping or staying at the lodge. There will be a variety of outings to choose from: rafting or boating on the Arkansas River, hiking, fishing, mountain biking, horseback riding, or sightseeing. You must be an Ozark Society member to participate in this trip. You can join by sending $15 [...]
In a recent tour of cities in Arkansas, Waterkeepers from North Carolina described how the CAFO’s (confined animal feeding operations) have caused havoc in their state. If you were unable to attend, or haven't seen the attached video, please take some time to click on this link and view the video. In a few minutes the whole picture is clearly presented aided by vignettes by Jewell Fowler, a long-time resident of Mt. Judea, and Ed Bethune, who has helped us on so many previous occasions. https://vimeo.com/81037170
Many of our members know John Heuston, the much-admired former Communications Chair of the Ozark Society. His wife Margaret has let us know that John has been moved to the Parkway Village on Chenal Parkway, and is in the Shell Center for Alzheimer's disease. He is in Unit #9. Visitors are welcome at the Alzheimer Center, though Margaret says John probably won't know you. When you drive in the main gate, the guard will call the Alzheimer Unit to ask if John may have a visitor. There is a protocol followed for entering and leaving the building. As most of you know, John's dedication to the Ozark Society's newsletters, "Pack & Paddle" and "Paddle Trails" was a 25 year well-done effort. His unfailing determination to move conservation and preservation issues forward went back to the early days of founding the Ozark Society. He wrote articles for numerous organizations, newspapers across the state, Game and Fish Commission, the Wildlife Federation, the Wilderness Society and more - tirelessly promoting wildlife preservation, protection of streams, wetlands and forests (early speaker against clear cutting), use of prescribed fire in federally designated wilderness and clean air. The very large body of his work, his writings, letters and photos, were [...]
Arkansas Times Article: Critics say farm was carelessly approved and threatens watershed and community. Farmers say they followed law and permit protects environment. The community of Mt. Judea sits on a hill along Arkansas 123, the scenic highway that snakes through the Ozarks in Newton County. This is the country that people have in mind when they think of the "Natural State" — clear rivers and creeks, craggy rocks, colorful cliffs and bluffs, springs, sinkholes, caves. It is mostly quiet in Mt. Judea, save for when motorcyclists come roaring down 123 to take in the scenery. The people are protective of their small community and suspicious of outsiders and the federal government. "Everybody knows everybody and most everybody's related," they say. Click here to read the full article on arktimes.com >>
Ozark Society President Bob Cross has announced that a notice of intent (NOI) to sue the USDA’s Farm Service Agency was filed on May 6. The NOI was filed by the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, the Ozark Society, and the National Parks Conservation Society because of the Farm Service Agency’s loan guarantee to establish a 6,500-head Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) hog farm on a tributary of the Buffalo National River. Review the Press Release and the NOI. Further information contact Bob Cross, racross@uark.edu or (479) 466-3077.
HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR PORK? ADEQ has granted a permit for a new hog farm near Big Creek, West of Mt. Judea, (Hwy. intersections 74/123). There are 17 separate hog waste application fields, 11 of these are adjacent to Big Creek, a tributary to the Buffalo National River. Total acreage = 630.7 acres. An ADEQ spokesperson related that there is a buffer zone of approximately 100 feet between Big Creek and the hog waste application fields. The facility is known as “C and H Hog Farm”. Its treatment facility consists of in house shallow pits with a capacity of 759,542 gallons, a settling basin with capacity of 831,193 gallons and a holding pond with capacity of 1,904,730 gallons. Hog farm details: Permitted – 2,503 swine weighing 55 lbs. or over 4,000 swine weighing less than 55 lbs. Avg. weight = 150 lbs. This amounts to 2,090,181 gallons of manure, litter and wastewater generated per year. This is approximately 5,727 gallons per day spread on fields (630.7 acres). On average, 9.1 gallons per day would be spread on each acre or 75 lbs. per day per acre. The permit does not allow discharge of the waste but rather it must be [...]