|
|
| |
| Thu, Nov. 20, 2008 |  |
 |
|
||
| |
The Unnatural State Thursday, Jul 31, 2008 By John Brummett A man, perhaps a smart-aleck, once asked why Arkansas calls itself "The Natural State" when most of its lakes are fake. By that he meant that our lakes weren't God's doing, or Mother Nature's, but made by men who went out with heavy equipment to God's natural rivers and dammed them up to form captive artificial bodies of whatever. Then we called these giant man-formed puddles lakes and dispatched onto them fishermen and boaters and water-skiers and whatnot, including developers to build comically overpriced homes and condominiums on the near-edges of them, most likely to pollute them. The smart-aleck's question did not invite a ready or comfortable answer. He could have kept going. Why do we call Arkansas "The Natural State" when we chop down our trees and plant rows of saplings in their place? Why do we call Arkansas "The Natural State" when we've flattened and embanked the eastern portion of it to keep the Mississippi River at bay so we can grow things that aren't endemic, but imposed by artificial seeding, meaning rice and soybeans? Why do we call ourselves "The Natural State" when we scare the gills off smallmouth bass so we can dredge sand and gravel out of our creeks? Why do we call ourselves "The Natural State" when there are 17 cosmetic surgeons listed in the Yellow Pages of the Little Rock telephone directory? Well, never mind that one. This is not to suggest we undam our lakes or quit farming or quit cutting timber. Heaven knows there are two things we need down here, and that those are money and recreation. It is to suggest we quit making jokes in our state branding. I propose a new motto: "It's Our Land and We'll Do With It What We Want." Or that classic George Fisher cartoon line: "God would have done it if He'd had the money." Along these lines, there was a headline in the paper the other day that sounded like something you might read in that "Onion," which is a spoof of a newspaper, put out by cut-ups compiling straight-sounding articles that are hilariously ironic and sarcastic and satirical. The headline went like this: "Two wildlife areas leased for natural gas drilling." Let me run that by you again. Arkansas has these areas set aside for wildlife preservation. They are in the forests, deep natural forests, inhabited by bears and deer and exotic mussels and Lord knows what all. Our state Game and Fish Commission, which maintains these areas - but doesn't necessarily preserve or protect them, it turns out - has sold out to Chesapeake Energy Corp. for $29.5 million so that this gas company may go into these areas with new roads and heavy gear to build gas wells. This is not a commentary on the Fayetteville Shale Play. Most of that is on private property. People have a right to money. The state will be generally enhanced by the economic influx. We've now finagled a way to get more tax money out of it for roads, and that is good. This is about setting aside areas as supposed preserves, then selling them out, then crowing about a natural state. People at Game and Fish say this gas activity won't bother the natural habitat. And they're the experts. But I would just say this: If I'm in my natural habit, meaning deep in that chair with my feet slung over the arm and the TV remote perched on my chest, and if you come through this area with a bulldozer and some steel and a gas well, then, speaking personally, I'm going to be bothered. Stories like this always seem to have a priceless kicker. And here it is: Game and Fish says it's going to take this $29.5 million and spend it on conservation. I'm wondering if there is any way to conserve that costs less? A natural way, perhaps. ------- John Brummett is a columnist for the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. His e-mail address is jbrummett@arkansasnews.com; his telephone number is (501) 374-0699. |
