Buck Island buyer needed
Posted on Sunday, July 13, 2008
HELENA-WEST HELENA — Public land is uncommon along the lower Mississippi River, but the American Land Conservancy hopes Buck Island is the seed that produces more.
Tim Richardson, government affairs director for the ALC, said the lack of public land is one of the biggest barriers to developing recreational opportunities along the lower Mississippi. Canoeists and kayakers can land on midriver sandbars, he said, but if you set foot on the bank, you’ll almost surely be trespassing.
Buck Island is one of the few exceptions on the lower Mississippi. The ALC bought the 1, 500-acre island in 2005 for $ 1. 2 million, hoping to sell it to a public entity like the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission that would maintain its ecological integrity and keep it open to the public. Organized somewhat like The Nature Conservancy, the American Land Conservancy focuses on obtaining land with exceptional aquatic conservation value.
With limited finances, however, the ALC isn’t in the position to hold land for long. No buyer has emerged, so the ALC reduced its asking price for the island to $ 950, 000.
“The Arkansas Legislature passed a bill in 2007 to buy it for $ 1. 6 million, but it was not funded,” Richardson said. “The American Land Conservancy may not be able to hold the island until the next legislative session in 2009. We’re mildly optimistic that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission can be part of a multifunded approach.”
Loren Hitchcock, deputy director for the AGFC, said the AGFC might be interested in a multiagency stake, but the island’s size, location and quality of its wildlife habitat doesn’t meet the agency’s requirements for a wildlife management area.
“It would have to be a multiagency thing for us to get excited about it,” Hitchcock said. “From what I’ve heard, it’s basically a place to ride fourwheelers and have walking trails. It’s not the kind of place for a WMA. It would have to be something we could help out with, because total ownership doesn’t really fit our needs.”
Hitchcock described it as basically a sandy island with a small amount of timber, mostly cottonwoods. He said it doesn’t support many deer and turkey, which limits its appeal to hunters. Hitchcock said it would be best used for educational purposes.
“The vision we see for our involvement is trying to educate people that come through there about the different wildlife species that might be out there,” he said.
Hitchcock added that there’s another 800-acre strip of land nearby that could be purchased to augment Buck Island if it ever comes into public ownership.
That would be just fine with the American Land Conservancy, Richardson said. He said the ALC’s vision is to use Buck Island and similar properties to jump-start a national conservation effort along the lower Mississippi.
“We’ve had 60 chambers of commerce and 20 county judges and mayors endorse putting Buck Island in private ownership,” Richardson said. “The Mississippi River is this part of the country’s equivalent to the Everglades. It gets billions of dollars of restoration money, but this river gets almost nothing.”
Richardson said Mississippi’s gaming industry is also interested in developing nongambling recreation on the Mississippi River. Helena-West Helena could serve that need by reinventing itself as the capital of a whole new industry.
“Tunica gets 10 million visitors just 45 minutes away from here,” Richardson said. “The casinos are trying to get people to stay an extra day, give families something else to do while Dad gambles. The gaming industry could be a major partner.”
Ultimately, Richardson said he wants Buck Island to be the first link in a chain of publicly owned islands that form a national Mississippi River canoeing / kayaking trail.
“There are 24 million paddlers in this country,” Richardson said. “There’s obviously a need.”
Hitchcock said the key to transferring Buck Island into the public domain is identifying the best use for it.
“It’s a diamond in the rough that nobody’s polished up yet,” he said.
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