Buffalo National River to Celebrate 25 Years

April 15, 1997

Buffalo National River
To Celebrate 25 Years
*****
By Craig Ogilvie, travel writer
Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism

State and national dignitaries will join National Park Service officials and the general public on June 14 in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Buffalo National River. Activities will be held at the Tyler Bend Recreational Park, north of Marshall, off U.S. 65.

Plans are still being formulated, according to Doug Wilson, chief of interpretation at the river park, but activities will include comments from public officials, interpretive programs, commemorative U.S. postal cancelations, and tours of the visitors center/museum.

The Ozark Society, which played a leading role in efforts to preserve the stream during the 1960s, will also participate in the program. Members will be canoeing a large stretch of the river during the special weekend and plan to continue their outing following the ceremonies. All former Buffalo National River staff members and employees are being invited back for the celebration and a reunion on June 13, according to Wilson.

The silver anniversary year will be highlighted in information and park events throughout the season, plus a day of live television broadcasts is planned a few weeks prior to the June celebration. A similar satellite uplink was successful during the 20th anniversary when more than 20 television celebrities, reporters, and technicians produced live news segments for programs in bordering states and nationally on the Nashville Network (TNN).

America's first federally-protected river has a history as wild and colorful as the scenic wonders found along its 132-mile winding course through the heart of the Ozarks. According to legends, the Buffalo was sacred to the Native American Indians who maintained a claim on the land until 1828. Pioneers were slow to settle along the bluffs and bottoms where floods could wipe out crops, water mills, and homes overnight.

However, logging and mining industries brought thousands of residents into the river valley by the turn of the century. While the population fluctuated with the national economy, permanent residents along the Buffalo generally supported any plan to help control flooding. The first solid plan to dam the river was authorized by Congress in 1938. World War II intervened and the so-called Lone Rock Dam project was dropped.

The early 1950s brought a resumption in dam building and new studies proposed two dams on the Buffalo. In 1956 and again in 1957, President Eisenhower vetoed attempts to impound the river, not because he opposed dams, but due to his belief that insufficient planning and public comment had gone into the large number of requested projects across the nation.

Meanwhile, feature articles started appearing in state and national publications with high praise for the natural beauty and grandeur of the Buffalo. Efforts to save the Buffalo slowly gained momentum during the late 1950s and grew stronger during the sixties. Battle lines were drawn as conservationists formed organizations to fight the damming of the river and proponents worked in support of the Corps of Engineers project.

A major breakthrough for keeping the river free-flowing came in mid-1961 when Sen. J. William Fulbright informed the Arkansas Nature Conservancy that he was interested in "getting the Buffalo River area included in the National Park Service." The year 1961 also brought the creation of the Ozark Society, which quickly assumed a major role in the preservation effort, with Dr. Neil Compton as its president.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas brought national media attention to the river during a canoe trip in April, 1962. "You cannot let this river die," Douglas said. "The Buffalo River is a national treasure worth fighting to the death to preserve."

The controversy took a new turn in 1965 when Gov. Orval Faubus, after years of no official position on the Buffalo River, notified the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that he was opposed to any dam on the stream and, instead, favored a national park. The project was promptly shelved by the Secretary of the Army.

The tide was turning in favor of a free-flowing stream. John Paul Hammerschmidt and Winthrop Rockefeller won key election victories in 1966 to Congress and the Governorship respectively, and both were supporters of the park proposal. After another series of hearings and studies, Congress approved Public Law 92-237 and on March 1, 1972, President Nixon approved the creation of the Buffalo National River. It came 100 years to the day after the establishment of America's first national park at Yellowstone.

The river park now covers some 95,000 acres and provides 14 designated campgrounds, excellent hiking trails, and commercial canoe/cabin rentals at major entry points. Buffalo Point, off Scenic Hwy. 14, south of Yellville, offers RV and tent campsites, housekeeping cabins, pavilions, trails, and river access. Tyler Bend Recreational Use Area, opened in 1991, features RV and tent camping, a pavilion, trails, an amphitheater, a visitors center, and river access. Lost Valley, near Ponca, has tent camping and hiking trails to Eden Falls. Open camping is permitted at the other 11 sites and on the river's many gravel bars. More than 716,500 persons visited the Buffalo River in 1996, according to park records.

For more information, write to: Buffalo National River, P.O. Box 1173, Harrison, AR 72601; or call (501) 741-5443, ext. 130.

####

Submitted by the Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism
One Capitol Mall, Little Rock, AR 72201, (501) 682-7606
E-mail: info@arkansas.com

May be used without permission. Credit line is appreciated:
"Arkansas Department of Parks & Tourism"