The Buffalo National River in Arkansas: Legal History

Do you know the legal history of the Buffalo National River in Arkansas? You need to in order to fully understand and appreciate the price people paid for it and the legal battle that took over ten years to settle.

Located in northern Arkansas, in Baxter, Marion, Newton and Searcy counties, you'll find the first National River of the United States. Many people visit this area each year without knowing the legal battle that was fought for it. Many more do not know that families were displaced because of it.

In the early 1950's, the National Park Service was looking for streams and rivers worthy of park status. The Buffalo was already a state park; created in 1935. So, the river was brought to the attention of the NPS as a very good candidate for national park status. It was beautiful, peaceful and had breathtaking features such as the limestone and granite bluffs.

About this same time, though, businessmen and some locals proposed damming up the river. Support came from Congressman James Trimble who thought that every river should be dammed. Thus, the battle began and was drug out for over ten years.

Along came Senator J. William Fullbright in 1961. He began to push for the Buffalo River to be taken over by the National Park Service in order to be protected against being dammed. He was joined in the battle in 1962, by the Ozark Society which was lead by Dr. Neil Compton. Compton was good buddies with Sam Walton, owner of the Wal-Mart chain. Both loved floating and fishing on the river and couldn't see it ever being dammed.

While there were the two sides to the fight, the people that actually lived along the river were stuck in between. You have to remember, these are people that don't like government interference and made their living along the river. Many had families there for over one hundred years. They just wanted to be left alone: no dam and no NPS takeover.

In 1967, a book called the "Buffalo River Country" was written by NPS employee Ken Smith. With the publication of this book, came a surge of interest to protect the BR from being dammed. "Save the Buffalo" became a battle cry for supporters of the NPS takeover.

The big turn around for the supporters of the NPS takeover came in 1968, when Congressman James Trimble lost his seat to John Paul Hammerschmidt. The big debate had been the river, with the two men on either side. It became clear to many people, including Senator John McClellan, that the people did not want their river dammed. The congressional district reflected in this vote was much of the Buffalo River Valley area. But the battle was not over yet.

Locals were still protesting, not wanting any type of outside interference. In 1968, this protest culminated with the cutting of about 200 trees along the river banks. They then dumped them into the river.

Not all protesters were that physical, though. Some formed the Buffalo River Conservation and Recreation Committee; known as the BRC & RC. This group came in with an alternate plan to save the river and try to keep all of the locals happy at the same time. But the plan was too complicated and failed. Its intention was to make the river itself safe by donating it to the Forest Service, but to keep the banks of the river in private ownership. This plan was referred to as the "Pastoral River Plan". But it just didn't work for a lot of people.

Along with fighting over the land and the river, there was a worry about revenues. Then Newton County Assessor Charles Petree voiced his concern that 51% of his county was already in federal hands and if they also took over the river, the county could lose an additional revenue of $34,000 a year.

With all this concern, on March 1, 1972, the Buffalo National River Act was signed into law. This was met with mixed feelings. After all the struggle to save the river and hand it over to the care of the NPS, disappointment came when they decided to put their headquarters in Boone County - no where near the Buffalo River. So, what about the promised jobs? NPS had predicted up to 5,000 jobs would be created and a tourism profit of $92,000,000 within the first five years. Neither ever really developed. A few jobs were created, but tourism profit was only about $34,000,000.

Then came the next ten years of the NPS acquisition of the land around the Buffalo. They were insensitive to the families, which was just the final slap in the face. It also took about $40,000,000 in order to finish the acquisition. It's just a sad example of the good and the bad of having the government involved.

While the Buffalo National River is a gem that should be appreciated by all, we also need to remember the sacrifice made by many of the locals. They had to be relocated in order for the BNR to be formed. "By 1980, the swath of the Park Service had moved through the lives and land of the inholders with an insensitivity which no one had predicted. As the BNR entered the new decade of the 1980's, the official promises and stated reassurances made ten years earlier seemed to echo back to the people of the Buffalo in hollow mockery." Kent Anderson, The People of the Buffalo: A Socio-Cultural Assessment of the Inholders Along the BuffaloNationalRiver.

Sources:

Kent Anderson, The People of the Buffalo: A Socio-Cultural Assessment of the Inholders Along the Buffalo National River, found at:

www.landrights.org/OCS/SocioCultural?index_BuffaloRiver.htm