5 Arkansas Agencies to Develop Plan for Protecting Buffalo National River
By Emily Walkenhorst, Arkansas Online
Five state agencies will participate in the formation of a watershed management plan for the Buffalo National River, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Friday [September 30].
The state departments of Environmental Quality, Health, Parks and Tourism, Agriculture, and the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission will form the Buffalo River Action Committee. That committee, with the help of a $107,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, will hire an engineer to assist in analyzing existing data and developing a plan to protect the Buffalo River, Department of Environmental Quality Director Becky Keogh said.
The watershed protection plan will not regulate development in the watershed but would be a guide for development and a catalyst for obtaining additional grants for landowners in the watershed who want to implement protective measures, Keogh said.
A watershed is the area surrounding a body of water in which materials can drain into the body of water.
