Reporting A Dump Site In Ar Waters

[delta_queen]

I need your input on who (or what entity) to reach out to regarding some dump sites on a creek in Central Arkansas. It primarly runs through private land but there are some public lands (WMA, etc) . I wrote the letter pasted below to the Arkansas Heritage Commission.

The Code enforecement in AR is so slack I am curious if it's even illegal to dump dead cows in a stream?

Dear Keeper of Big Creek Natural Area,

My husband and I have recently moved to AR. We are a short distance from Big Creek Natural Area of Cleburne County. It is a wonderful place that we visit often for hiking and fishing and whatnot. On our first visit we thought this creek looked like canoe heaven and indeed it is. This very wet Spring afforded us a long canoe trip a couple of weekends ago – almost 19 miles we think. The fishing and the scenery was spectacular.

We saw some bad dump sites and I am not resting easy about it. I write to you now for your guidance. I’d like to learn more about what I can do about this. The two worst sites have: cars (old and new), appliances (old and new) and even freshly dead cattle. The dumping is active and smells wretched. The ‘trash’ is pushed over the side of the ridge and sits very near the water level, which of course ultimately runs to the Little Red River …...

Big Creek is a wild treasure! Any advice you have for me will be appreciated. Who should I go to about this? It’s so remote that I doubt few will ever see this horrible pollution until its too late.

Sincerely,

Virginia

[FishinCricket]

I need your input on who (or what entity) to reach out to regarding some dump sites on a creek in Central Arkansas. It primarly runs through private land but there are some public lands (WMA, etc) . I wrote the letter pasted below to the Arkansas Heritage Commission.

The Code enforecement in AR is so slack I am curious if it's even illegal to dump dead cows in a stream?

Dear Keeper of Big Creek Natural Area,

My husband and I have recently moved to AR. We are a short distance from Big Creek Natural Area of Cleburne County. It is a wonderful place that we visit often for hiking and fishing and whatnot. On our first visit we thought this creek looked like canoe heaven and indeed it is. This very wet Spring afforded us a long canoe trip a couple of weekends ago – almost 19 miles we think. The fishing and the scenery was spectacular.

We saw some bad dump sites and I am not resting easy about it. I write to you now for your guidance. I’d like to learn more about what I can do about this. The two worst sites have: cars (old and new), appliances (old and new) and even freshly dead cattle. The dumping is active and smells wretched. The ‘trash’ is pushed over the side of the ridge and sits very near the water level, which of course ultimately runs to the Little Red River …...

Big Creek is a wild treasure! Any advice you have for me will be appreciated. Who should I go to about this? It’s so remote that I doubt few will ever see this horrible pollution until its too late.

Sincerely,

Virginia

Very informative post Virginia... I definitely think that there are (or should be) federal regulations regarding the dumping of certain waste (Autos and appliances should definitely fall into this category)

Hopefully something is done about this soon. It's nice to see someone who is concerned about the environment in a world where everyone is just "looking out for #1"... Thanks again for the concern, let's all hope this issue is resolved..

As for the answer to your question.. I would assume the Arkansas Conservation Dept. would be the ones to contact, right?

[delta_queen]

CC,

I appreciate your repsonse, but... I haven't done anything yet. Need to learn the laws and find the right person to help me. Just found The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. There was a place there to make a report. Fingers crossed I get a bite. I'll report back here.

[soggyfeet]

DNR (dept of natural resources) If nothing happens then take pictures and go to the newspapers and have the public get involved. In todays going green attitude things like this wont go over to well with them. Just have to be carefull not to get the evil groups involved or you might lose the right to float the river or fish it.

[Danoinark]

DQ, you might also report it to your County Judge. His county may be involved in a local waste management program that could have an enforcement officer.

Dano

[Trav]

From my experiance...unless you own the property that is being "dumped", you wont have a legit complaint and you will be observed as a nature hugger.

Heck, I push tons(literally) of trash off my dock that end up in Arkansas. Am I supposed to collect all that plastic, foam, and waste? I collect my fair share just fishing.

All you can do is take home more trash than you left with and feel that you contributed. The human Anthill is too big to take on yourself and not even the Gov can do it all.

Sucks, but it is what it is.

[Dutch]

I'd bypasss locals and contatc the EPA.

[chub minnow]

I'll be surprised if you get much out of the ADEQ. I know for certain that due to powerful CFO operators in this state (Tyson, George's, Cargill) that animal waste is not considered a pollutant. I'll bet this definition includes carcasses as well. This lobby would also be the reason for a complete lack of animal cruelty laws in this state, but I digress. ADEQ might do something about the auto and appliance dumping, but from what I can tell, all they really care about is erosion control on construction sites etc., which is a good thing. I just know that the laws regarding water and air quality in Arkansas are weak to nonexistent.

This lack of regulation and enforcement at the state level has allowed poultry producers to spread waste in river bottom farm fields directly adjacent to waterways. The state of Oklahoma was suing the producers as well as the state of Arkansas to clean up the problem on the Illinois. I think your best bet is to work locally with judges, law enforcement etc. Many of these people are probably outdoors types, as opposed to the Little Rock bureaucrats at ADEQ. Good luck with this endeavor and keep us posted on how it's going.

[hoglaw]

Wow, so many opinions here.

ADEQ is a good start. Also, the EPA has jurisdiction since the Little Red is a navigable waterway (I believe), but you'll get more response out of the ADEQ. There are lots of statutes dealing with dumping, and the penalties can be pretty severe. I would contact the county sheriff's department. County judges are useless figureheads with no legal experience required. That might be a dead end. Don't listen to Trav's nihilist ramblings. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Go take some pictures. If you have GPS, get the coordinates of the dumpsites. They're likely on private property and the landowners may ultimately be responsible.

As far as the chicken litter stuff goes, it is NOT illegal to spread chicken litter on fields. Chicken litter is a wonderful fertilizer and is less harmful and contains less phosphorous than many commercial fertilizers used in the same effective amounts. South Arkansas would love to have barges of chicken litter floating towards it. The problem is that the contract farmers in Northwest Arkansas cannot afford to truck away all the litter they produce. They wind up having to spread it on their fields in amounts much greater than what is normally needed for agricultural purposes because they can't afford to do anything else with it. I do agree that legislation should be passed to make the commercial processors responsible for moving it, but then the cost of chicken skyrockets. Right now it's an "externality" that is paid in the end by the users of the waterways rather than the purchasers of the chicken.

Finally, cruelty to animals laws are not nonexistant in Arkansas. Subjecting an animal to needless cruelty carries a potential penalty of a thousand dollar fine and a year in jail. Maybe this isn't harsh enough for you, but the law exists and is occasionally enforced.

[taxidermist]

No cruelty to animals exist, they dumping of livestock is legal as there is not way to have a rendering plant pick up the carcass. Also with the recent high waters is could have been a animal that drowned, so I seriously doubt any crime has been commited.

With scrap prices so high I doubt the dumping of cars is recent, matter of fact there is a but a a ruckus going here a local went in on Buffalo river and pulled two scraped cars that have been in a ditch for years out and hualed them to the scrap dealer.

We in Arkansas dont have a DNR to run and report things like this to. County judge LOL not much good there. I thank God our Fish and Game is not over developed like Missouri's is Just that Fish and Game and not so many different depts.

you can call 211 I heard on the radio, this number will guide you to the different depts of the Arkansas State Government and phone numbers.