rebelman

So protecting the Ozark Hellbender is the best way to force developers into adopting serious best management practices? The Strawberry Darter, if not already gone, seems to have done little to protect Strawberry River. Huge erosion banks, cattle farms with no buffer, and outright trash dumps are common. Many species than we know are probably endangered. Canoe the streams in the rain, it's easy to see serious sediment source points. I believe a stream with Arkansas Extraordinary Waterway Resource designation can be protected without the endangered species act. Water law could be a new specialty, I mean if we're gonna fill up the courts with frivolous cases why not sue a few developments on point source pollution violation.

There is an ongoing watershed dispute in central Arkansas where this timber company wants to build a subdivision in I believe lake Maumelles watershed and everybody is like that would pollute the reservoir. They are working out a special construction method to divert runoff. I'm like why don't all construction projects, large and small, have special construction methods-mandatory? The extra expense would be absorbed in higher values. Riparian zones should be mandatory. Property owners are temporary. Many do more damage to the planet in their short time at the helm than is wise.

cottonmouth with massive body. See his yellowish head coming out of the water? See his gray body stretching up onto the bank? He was aggressive. I was scared.

This guy came after my canoe one day.

You must mean Riverside. Riverbend is a trailer park on the river near Hardy, just downstream from the low water bridge at Spring River Valley(Kamp Kierl). Riverside is a camp downstream from Bayou Access, with plentiful trout. Trout are rarely found in Hardy or Riverbend. I use white rooster tails any where on Spring River for trout or large and small mouth bass, not to mention the occasional walleye when my mojo is really working.

Good link. All heavy equipment operators near streams should be required to read and follow the recommendations. We had a similar problem in Cherokee Village Arkansas. Some city bureacrat decided a bridge was endangered by gravel, so in the dozers went all over, under, again, redoing, excavating, pushing, hauling, whatever. A wonderful lady active in SOS, (save our spring river) Ruth Reynolds, wrote the local paper repeatedly, and brought in the corps, and the Department of Environmental Quality. Stopped that fast. Maybe if the national guard wasn't in Iraq, they could be inpectors for water quality.

REQUESTS DENIED! Small victory for mankind, Huge victory for Crooked Creek!

Maybe the GREEN Party would appease all those groups. And where is this Fox Statler, we need him on board. Why isn't he sitting down for a televised one on one with Mike Beebe?

I'm sick of all the construction sites ignoring any sort of best management practices. Also cattle farms refusing to establish riparian buffer zones. Every where I look on Spring and SouthFork Rivers harsh construction is dumping tons of clay mud into these extraordinary resource waters. Cattle farmers and landowners refuse to implement erosion control measures. Canoing on a rainy day shows much abuse. "Land use committees" never seem to mention erosion control, wishing to do away with any controls, perhaps fearing they will actually be enforced. I went to a hearing on the Strawberry Darter, a fish found only in Strawberry River and tributaries. The young wildlife bioligist explained reasons for it's demise, non-point source sedimentation, point source sewage, and runoff from animal farms. An attractive red haired lady stood up and took issue with any suggestion the cattle industry had any negative contribution to rivers and water purity at all. She disrupted, argued, confused... The biologist told me she was a frequent "guest", a paid lobbyist. Then you got Mike Beebe, suing Oklahoma for suing big chicken. He says the important thing is rights of arkansas business owners. I say the important thing is clean water. Thanks for letting me rant OzarkAnglers