You couldn’t make it up. America’s first national river, the Buffalo National River in Arkansas, is about to become home to an industrial sized hog farm.
The river is not only one of the most beautiful natural features of Arkansas, it’s also a premium tourist destination. It’s hard to believe that in March the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) approved a permit allowing the farm to be instated at Big Creek, the river’s major tributary.
It gets worse. This is no cosy smallholding. The industrial operation will house to up to 6,500 hogs; not forgetting the two million gallons of waste they will produce every year. As per usual farming practice, this waste will be sprayed into nearby fields, and will thus most likely end up polluting America’s first national river in due course.
Tell ADEQ the risk is too high: it is now or never to save the Buffalo River.
