Fourty years ago, today, the Buffalo River was given its official designation as being the nation's first national river. It is one of 3597 parks that are a part of the national park system (not all are "National Parks" -- I'd lie to say I understand the distinction).
The Arkansas Tourism department has a great overview of the history of the formation of the Buffalo River as a national river. In a nutshell, it took activists more than a decade of fighting to get the designation - -and the fight largely began based on attempts by public officials to dam the river. What a tragedy that would have been.
Many areas along the river have served as areas of recreation for 80 or more years -- and this is the area that first attracted my wife and I to visit Arkansas a decade ago -- and has attracted thousands of tourists annual to take in its natural beauty.
So today, Happy Birthday to the Buffalo River -- and a special thanks to those people 40-50 years ago who fought to preserve the area for later generations to enjoy.
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