by Mike Masterson

If you have nothing else planned for May 24 and would enjoy a rewarding and unforgettable afternoon in an idyllic setting for Memorial Day weekend, you might consider joining me and the Ozark River Stewards along the scenic Buffalo National River.
They've planned a tribute gathering and two-mile float in honor of late 3rd District Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt of Harrison.
Hammerschmidt was instrumental in constructing and shepherding legislation through the U.S. House that in 1972 created the country's first national river. In 2012, the state's Department of Environmental Quality (cough) misguidedly permitted a large, Cargill Inc.-sponsored hog factory into the Buffalo watershed just six miles from the treasured stream that draws tens of thousands of tourists each year.
Since then, studies by the National Park Service (whom the state also failed to notify this mega-waste-producing factory was being permitted) and others have been monitoring water quality along Big Creek, a major tributary of the Buffalo, which flows alongside the waste spray fields that serves C&H Hog Farms, housing up to 6,500 swine.
The stewards, who are sponsoring this tribute at the Ozark campground along Arkansas Scenic 7 south near Jasper, are as committed as many Arkansas groups and people across the state and nation to doing everything necessary to keep what many consider the state's most valuable natural treasure in "God's Country" free from contamination from hog waste.
"The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Board recently voted unanimously to extend the temporary moratorium on allowing any additional large and medium hog [factories] in the Buffalo River watershed," the group wrote in announcing the tribute.
"While that is good news, what is really needed is a permanent ban on unsustainable industrial operations that are passing themselves off as 'family farms' all over our country."
The organization also cited records it says show C&H has spread over 2.5 million gallons of raw hog waste onto a little over 400 acres of pasture in the past year, including periods when when it was too cold for grass to grow. The state's permit also allows the factory to leak up to 5,000 gallons daily from its two waste lagoons. Unbelievable, isn't it?

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mikemasterson10@hotmail.com.
Editorial on 05/16/2015