Date: 3/4/25 3:30 pm From: Carol Joan Patterson <0000003a0ccbe138-dmarc-request...> Subject: Re: Arkansas birds and hog factory farms
Joe,
Thanks so much for your comments. I agree completely. We Arkansans are so very fortunate to have this wonderful river! We owe a debt of gratitude to all who fought to keep this river. We can repay this debt by working to keep our river pristine, protecting her from factory farms and their ilk.
I worked a bit with Leesia, and saw at first hand how the lovely Louisiana Waterthrush flourished in the clean waters, but did not fare as well in polluted places.
On Friday, February 28, 2025 at 03:31:53 PM CST, Joseph Neal <0000078cbd583d7c-dmarc-request...> wrote:
Buffalo National River was designated an Important Bird Area by Audubon Arkansas in 2016 (https://www.arkansas.com/articles/buffalo-national-river-designated-important-bird-area).Buffalo National River is home to approximately 200 bird species, providing critical habitat and an important stop for many along their migratory routes,” said Emily Jones, senior southeast program manager for the National Parks Conservation Association (2016).I got to thinking about native birds that depend on the Buffalo in the context of efforts to expand hog factory farming into the Buffalo watershed. Does their presence or absence make a difference in terms of birds?Whether you are a supporter of building factory hog farms or if you if you a bird watcher, this is a reasonable question to ask. Current bills in Arkansas Legislature would allow return of factory hog farms to the Buffalo. If passed, these would reverse protections put in place in 2019 after the C and H hog factory farm was closed due to significant public opposition.Let me speak on the bird side. Numerous special bird habitats documented in National Science Foundation Grant No. NSF SPI 79-05277: “Environmental Evaluation: Use and Expansion of the Graber method (A student-oriented study of the Buffalo National River in Arkansas.)” 1979. Douglas James was faculty advisor.Nine students from UA-Fayetteville undertook a broad study of environmental impacts on the Buffalo. Bird communities in the upper Buffalo were included (bird species, Table 10). Undertaken in 1978, these studies provide baseline data soon after establishment of the National River (1972).In additional to this NSF project, consider data collected in the US Fish and Wildlife Breeding Bird Survey, Christmas Bird Counts, personal field trips (recorded in Arkansas Audubon Society database and Cornell’s eBird), technical papers in Arkansas Academy (and other journals), plus graduate student research.These data show uniform richness of bird communities in the Buffalo watershed. There is no other place in Arkansas that even closely compares.One study involved Louisiana Waterthrushes conducted by Leesia Marshall as part of her PhD 2004-2008 (“Territories, territoriality, and conservation of the Louisiana Waterthrush and its habitat, the watershed of the upper Buffalo River” 2012). She banded and then tracked individual birds.Waterthrushes set up nesting territories of various lengths along the river. River segments least impacted by pollution had highest rates of birds returning to same territories in subsequent years. Pollution at various levels impacted availability of food resources. Birds in least polluted segments were able to raise young in shorter stream segments.Take home message: Marshall demonstrates Louisiana Waterthrushes thrive best in stream segments with least pollution. The relevance of this is shown by research conducted during the C and H Farm controversy: despite state-permitted controls, hog waste pollution from C and H seeped into underlying limestone bedrock and traveled through ground water into the Buffalo.This is the story well-documented in other parts of the US with hog factory farms: polluted watersheds.https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/stink-swine-and-nuisance-the-north-carolina-hog-industry-and-its-waste-mana. The hog factory industry “… defends their waste management system as “state of the art.” Their lagoons collect feces, urine, blood, and other waste produced by the pigs … contents are sprayed onto nearby fields as fertilizer ...”In terms of negative impacts on Arkansas bird communities, what we don’t know is just how far all of this goes. How far across the floodplain, to other species like Kentucky Warblers. How far up the slopes to Cerulean Warblers in the canopy.Leesia Marshall showed impacts on the Buffalo’s Louisiana Waterthrushes. How many other bird species are impacted? And if native insect communities are impacted by pollution, how far up the great chain of being go negative impacts?There are other places where hog farms can be built. There is only one Buffalo River.In 2016, Emily Jones of National Parks Conservation Association stated: “Clean water is essential to our health, the health of our national parks and the health of native wildlife that call the Buffalo home. It takes all of us working together to protect the health of the national river.”
