Arkansas has changed her value statement from the "Land of Opportunity" to the "Natural State" in the past few years. I think that is clearly a marketing dream. The one natural place we have left, the Buffalo National River, has been assaulted by a Cargill-contracted cooperative pig farm near the small hamlet of Jasper. Like a thief in the night, the the polluters and enabling politicians have gotten a permit and a federal loan to build this travesty on Dry Creek, a Buffalo watershed. It is also within one sixteenth of a mile of Mt. Judea school. How does this happen and how can it be stopped? The Buffalo Watershed Alliance has been formed to fight the larceny of Arkansas' premier outdoor recreation area. Hopefully they have found an opening. Like so many of the sinister bullies that exploit poor areas in America, they got a little too confident and made an error. The National Park Service that oversees the Buffalo was unaware of this as were the residents of Jasper. All permit posting was done during the holidays and none in the area that is affected. The Buffalo River Watershed Alliance has a web page that we will list below. It can give you all the details that you need more clearly than we can. Our family and friends make several trips a year to this wonderful place. It truly is the last best place in Arkansas. Please help us fight for it again. The fight of more than forty years ago enlisted governors, senators, supreme court justices, Bentonville doctors and people that recognize that this place is not replaceable after it is gone or soiled. Please spend a small amount of time and sign the petition at a minimum. It doesn't mean you will turn into a tree-hugger, granola-eating environmentalist like me. It means you care about wild unspoiled places. This is truly a bi-partisan fight. My song quote comes from Crosby,Stills, Nash and Young. "The Battle lines have been drawn!"
http://buffaloriveralliance.org/
Spring migration is underway and it is really fantastic. We have found a wonderful birding app that really helps in tracking the migration. BirdsEye is the name of the app. If you are inclined to use twitter you can follow them @BirdsEyebirding. Their web site address is
www.birdseyebirding.com. They will keep you up to date on the progress of nature's greatest feat. William and I saw a flock of plovers come through the Arkansas Delta today. Their northern migration starts at the southern tip of South America. They travel all the way to the Artic Circle. They basically just fly all the time! Really fast. The neo-tropical warblers are just now starting to show up in our area. These little globes of light always surprise you with their vivid colors. The Waxwings have almost cleaned out all the berries on the trees and are moving on north. It is a great time of the year! Take advantage of these wonders-it's free! Most ducks are gone now except for a few brilliantly colored Northern Shovelers. They are in breeding plumage and look very little like the birds you see in November through January. As always, click on the picture to make them larger.
 |
| Pine Warbler |
 |
| Cedar Waxwing |
C
 |
| Red Bellied Woodpecker |
No comments:
Post a Comment