I caught this photo from the NE edge of Mount Judea at dawn. Mt. Judea is the NE extent of the continuous Boston Mountains looking NE towards Bull Shoals Lake (about 60 miles NE). The hills in the distance are along the middle Buffalo National River near the area where Big Creek joins the Buffalo. Unfortunately, there is a huge Commercial Hog Operation about 5 miles above the Buffalo River (outside the National Park Service lands), but the hog waste has permeated the Karst topography and entered Big Creek and then the Buffalo, River causing unacceptable levels of nitrogen and other effluents to pollute our beautiful river. Just does not seem right !! CLICK TO ENLARGE.
There is currently a submitted permit request by the owners of the CAFO Hog operation to install liners in two open waste pits where the manure is stored, and a methane gas flame-off burner. That permit modification, if approved by the state, would help contain the waste — temporarily — but should have been installed there from the beginning. Doesn’t solve the larger problem of waste spreading onto open fields.