Posted Oct. 27, 2011
By: Melissa Martinez
Buck Island Officially Dedicated
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Mayor Arnell Willis, State Rep. Clark Hall along other dignitaries joined representatives of the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission Wednesday morning at the Helena River Park for the official Buck Island dedication, a 6-year project of the American Land Conservancy. |
HELENA-WEST HELENA: Helena-West Helena Mayor Arnell Willis, State Rep. Clark Hall and numerous other dignitaries, officials and esteemed members of the community gathered Wednesday morning at the Helena River Park for the Buck Island dedication. The ceremony officially launched the opening of a new public access to the island. Tim Richardson, governmental affairs director for the American Land Conservancy, reported that Buck Island is a forested island and an ideal, user-friendly wilderness destination."
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It has five miles of year-round hiking trails and large white sand beaches during the Mississippi River’s lower water stages, usually July through February,” he stated.ALC purchased Buck Island at auction in 2005 and needed to find “take out” money in order to transfer the use of the island to the public while conserving it forever.
“Frankly, we thought that the Buck Island project was such a great combination of natural resource conservation with economical growth for the Delta that it would succeed within a normal two to three year time frame,” explained Richardson.
Some of the drama of the 6-year Buck Island campaign had to do with the financial stress that the project placed on ALC. For a variety of reasons the project dragged on and was on life support for years 4 and 5.
“Thankfully ALC was able to have partners who knew about the project and made grants or corporate contributions to us,” explained Richardson.
In October 2010 ALC negotiated a conservation easement with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, protecting the island’s 800 acres of native forests. In May 2011, ALC completed a public access easement with the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, which ensures public use of the island.
"Today is a great day for all of those who were involved in this journey,” proclaimed Richardson.
According to Richardson, ALC Arkansas partners were the prime movers, but it was outside funding and success in other states that allowed them to not sell Buck Island at a distress sale auction.
The award ceremony and dedication event included comments from the award recipients including Clark Hall, former state senator Kevin Smith and Ron Nassar of the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee.
“I just wanted to say that of course it takes a community wide effort to accomplish something like this but Clark Hall is our champion. Without his support we wouldn’t have been able to pull this off,” stated Smith.
“This is a good day for the American Land Conservancy as well as for the citizens of Phillips County,” stated Willis.
“This project had as much drama for us as it holds promise for large scale restoration creation of the River Water Trail and the Delta communities’ right and ability to benefit from nature-based tourism,” added Richardson.
Local advocate Bernadette Messina stated, “The project was a culmination of tenacity and mainly teamwork to create another excellent product for tourism growth in Phillips County as well as the Delta region.”
Financial supporters of the ALC include the McKnight Foundation, Entergy Foundation and river industry corporations like AEP River Operations, Cargill CHS Inc. and Ingram Barge. ALC also was able to close other projects in Alaska using Exxon Valdez Restoration funds and in California, Montana, Nevada and in the middle Mississippi River Valley including St. Louis and Cairo, Ill. where the ALC has been active in conserving 25,000 acres of islands and wetland habitat in the Mississippi River flood plane since the “Great Flood of 1937.”
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