Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

Buffalo National River Announces
Seasonal Reduction in Services
Date: October 29, 2012
Contact: Caven Clark, Public Information Officer, 870/365-2790

In response to both real and anticipated budget cuts in the National Park Service, Buffalo National River will impose a seasonal reduction of services parkwide. This includes the closure of its developed campgrounds from November 15, 2012 to March 1, 2013. This closure will not affect camping in undeveloped areas such as gravel bars. In most areas rest rooms will be locked and trash cans removed until the closure is lifted. The popular day use area at Lost Valley will remain open during this period.
Declining federal support has resulted in more competition among and within agencies for operations funds. In the last two years alone Buffalo National River's seasonal staff, which are responsible for everything from law enforcement, cleaning rest rooms, to giving evening programs to visitors, has taken significant hits, stretching remaining staffers to the limit. This is exacerbated by the linear nature of the park (approximately 135 river miles) with multiple access points many of which include a minimum of facilities such as restrooms, campsites, and trash cans.

While the bulk of park visitation occurs between Memorial Day and Labor Day, there is no reason why Buffalo National River shouldn't be a twelvemonth recreational opportunity. However, running contrary to encouraging visitors to experience the park in the "off" season is the fiscal reality of the decline in staffing and services. Park visitors in any season of the year are encouraged to assume the responsibility of hauling out their own trash and recyclables, but this will become especially acute this winter.

Various park volunteer groups assist the park annually with river clean-ups which focus on the trash in the river itself, but this goes a step further by inviting visitors to take on their own garbage to insure that the next visitor will find the parkas nice as it was for them.

"The decision to reduce services is a difficult one for the park and, to a certain extent, is being done on an experimental basis" said park Superintendent Kevin Cheri. What this means is that park management will remain
flexible and if something isn't working, make appropriate changes consistent with our laws and fiscal reality. But what is certain is that the park cannot continue with business as usual as it faces mandatory reductions in operational
costs.

Although numbers were down last year due to the combination of heat and drought, Buffalo National River's visitation is averaging 1.5 million per year which is a statement of how important and popular the park is as a resource and refuge for our visitors. A survey in 2010 found that these visitors spent $47,169,000 at Buffalo National River and in communities near the park. That spending supported 671 jobs in the local area. If we want to continue supporting the local economy then we will need your help in preserving the high quality of the river and its surroundings.

Thank you for this, Deb. Seems Steele, T Bend and Buff Point would at least remain open to a degree? Lot of hiking, horses and other activity there.

Budget cuts must be made. Or at least wasteful spending diminished. Sad to see it cut so close to home. I think this is not wasted money at all and the river will pay the price.

Does this mean they are shutting down the roads? How do you access the river for putin-takeout? I live by the river and spend tons of time on the river, on the upper part you hardly ever see a ranger except during the busy season. I was swimming at Steele, Erbie, or some other hole on the upper river almost everyday this summer, don't think I saw one ranger. In the winter, basically the only service provided is occasional trash pick-up at all the upper river sites. If they are spending any significant money on the river during the winter up here, it is not apparent. I had dinner with a ranger and his wife this summer, nice enough people, but had no knowledge of or any interest in the river, was just a career stop and law enforcement was his only interest. I know that the good folks at the ACC, and Debo in particular work with these people on a continuing basis, and kudos to all who do, but these people live in an alternate universe. This basically amounts to extortion, pay up- or we will close the park, even if the savings by doing so are paltry compared to real budget cutting options easily available to them. Believe them if your philosophy requires it, but my eyes tell me otherwise. Good luck keeping me out of these areas.

My understanding is the campgrounds will be closed and there will be no trash pick up. But beyond that the good news is that they are not attempting to close the river, the access roads or the trails that so many of us love. This is what I know it this time, but I'm still trying to find out more.

Thanks for the information thus far Debo. Erbie and Ozark, for example, are two of the camps I've used most over the years and at each, the water is turned off, bathrooms closed, and services curtailed each Winter season. However we could still camp there. I hope this would still be the case.

Best Regards
Jim

Jim Krueger wrote:Thanks for the information thus far Debo. Erbie and Ozark, for example, are two of the camps I've used most over the years and at each, the water is turned off, bathrooms closed, and services curtailed each Winter season. However we could still camp there. I hope this would still be the case.

Best Regards
Jim

I was wondering the same thing. My favorite time to camp is when the campgrounds are "closed".

This does'nt make sense, I can't ever remember bathrooms being open during the winter months, apparently the only thing changing is trash pickup? I wonder if they are going to put up signs saying campground closed?

My understanding is that the grounds will be completely accessible, but as stated above, trash pickup will stop and the toilets will be shut down. There is a hope and a chance that the compost toilets, such as at Ponca, Kyles and Cecil Cove and I believe one at Steele Creek will be open, but no TP will be restocked. It'll be like car camping in the wilderness areas we're all used to where you bring your own and haul out your trash, but with the bonus of having fire rings and picnic tables. Actually, I'm going to enjoy it more with the usual pedestrian crowd absent and no real conveniences that I'd miss being gone. Be sure to dig catholes and if you burn your TP, make sure you don't catch the leaves on fire.

DeBo wrote:My understanding is the campgrounds will be closed and there will be no trash pick up. But beyond that the good news is that they are not attempting to close the river, the access roads or the trails that so many of us love. This is what I know it this time, but I'm still trying to find out more.

Let's just see them try to close the actual river.

hollohead
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Posts: 70
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2009 11:39 am
Re: BNR Campground Closings
Fri Nov 09, 2012 11:10 am
This does'nt make sense, I can't ever remember bathrooms being open during the winter months, apparently the only thing changing is trash pickup? I wonder if they are going to put up signs saying campground closed?
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I don't remember the facilities being open in the dead of winter either. I hate to hear that trash pick up will be stopped. The amount of trash that non thinkers leave behind on average is a concern of mine. Especially since all I've ever heard is that trash containers in the middle of nowhere tend to accumulate a lot of trash.

With all y'all about having the park to ourselves for a while.

I'm with Jim on this. I used to camp at a lot of these place's on the 'off season'. normally what meant when they said the campground was closed for off season was that all the modern toilets ( not vaults ) were locked up. all the water was off. but trash services ran year round and they tried to keep TP in the vaults. not that this clears up the original post... but just my 2 cent added to the confusion. i have all but stopped camping at the BR campgrounds due to the park rangers walking into my camp with here hands on there guns like there is a escaped convict on the lose. i had one park ranger tell me the last time i was camped there.. aka last winter.. that they got rid of that guy. an as she was saying this she was fixing to right me a ticket for camping at the horse camp with out a horse. seeing i was the only person there for the two days i was camped there it made perfect sense as to why i couldn't be there.... what happened to the days when the park ranger would just walk in your campground eat all your hot dogs an tell you about all the cool stuff there is for you to do while your there. k. sorry for the rant. =) :myday"

This is NOT meant as a NPS bashing highjack. I have met and worked with some very nice NPS staff on the 7 formal Buffalo River cleanups I have participated in. BUT, I have had several similar experiences with Buffalo River NPS rangers whose hands were always on their guns AND the retaining strap usually undone, on the river, on gravel bars, and in the campgrounds, although I have never a gotten a ticket for anything, and usually offer them my pumpkin bread or fresh made cookies, and offer to help them and others when they need it. Most of the law enforcement rangers I have met in the last 2 years seemed like they would have been more at home in Iraq or Afganistan on patrol. I complained in writing a couple of times and got whitewash letters in response.

Cost saving idea: Get rid of all but 3 of the law enforcement type NPS rangers and let the local law and state patrol handle most of their off river duties. Avoid probable lawsuits that were just waiting to happen and swallow up more of the NPS funds. Keep one Law Enforcement type ranger each for upper, middle, and lower river. Bring back "interpretive" type rangers with experience, common horse sense, and a smile because they want to be there, and more folks will be on the NPS side to increase NPS funds while cheering about how it was needed.

Just an idea......

I do not think the NPS realizes how many folks they have turned off to ever wanting to come back with the attitudes of some, not all, of their rangers. Their letters back to me site the need for the switch due to the unseen dangers of major drug and crime problems in river city, but all I see is about the same level of car breakins, drunks, and littering which their increase in law enforcement bodies has done virtually nothing about. Their statistics may say different, but NOW I do not even trust THEIR statistics. All I know is what I see when I go there, and I go there more than most folks. From talking to other regular Buffalo River paddlers, it seems I am not alone in my perceptions.

And this is from someone who the former ranger types had gone out of their way to thank (along with Roger Keesee) for all our help on the river doing rescue and on clean ups, not that we ever wanted or expected a thank you.

And as far as the announced closures and packing out my own trash, I'm not real fond of the NPS campgrounds anyway, I prefer the "off season", bring my own toilet paper, and I usually take home more trash than I generated.

I hope this will be taken as a constructive idea and not just another rant. Maybe we need to take our legislators down the river igcogneto and let them see what we see a few times.

Eric Esche

That's not a rant Eric, it's the gods honest truth. Since all of your ideas make perfect sense, they have NO chance. While waiting at Steele Cr. for my friend for an overnighter on the Buffalo, I noticed a Ranger pulling up. Did not think a thing about it until I see him creeping up on me in my rear view. He treats me like a criminal while I reply with how awesome the river is, we put on ahead of him and stop at a gravel bar for refreshments. We look upriver and see him swimming the class 1 shoal, he gets back in the canoe and as he paddles past us asks, "is everyone alright over there?". The entire group of 8 people burst into spontaneous gut splitting laughter. He turned his head and paddled away as we continued to laugh. Everyone had been respectful and courteous to him at the put-in, and he had been a jerk to all of us in return, karma's a b----. Point is, this is not competence, and we deserve better.

I think it's a good idea for the NPS to close the campgrounds and reduce their workforce during the winter months even in times of a good economy. The majority of the paddlers and hikers that get out during wintertime are, for the most part, respectful of the outdoors anyway. The Buffalo River has been getting along just fine for thousands of years without Ranger Rick and his iron fist. I dearly love that river with all of my heart, and have for the past 20+ years; but trying to deal with some of those park service folks - no matter how friendly you try to be to them - can sure leave a bitter taste in your mouth. And yes, I have met some very nice and polite ones also.