A Conversation With...Buffalo River Supt. Ivan Miller

What with all the discussion about extending the Ozark Highlands Trail, there's been talk for months now about the horse trails along the Buffalo National River — and the prospect that they might somehow disappear when the plan for the extension of the OHT is finalized. So it seemed a good time to get acquainted with the Buffalo's new superintendent, Ivan Miller (who a year ago replaced Jack Linahan, who retired at age 67 after a 12-year tenure). The goal of the one-on-one was to get beyond the innuendoes concerning the OHT plans — and to get a sense of how the horseback-riding community fits into the overall plan for the Buffalo. Editor Lisa Broadwater would have loved to conduct an on-the-scene interview while exploring the Buffalo on horseback (it's one of her favorite pastimes), but, dad-gum, no such offer was made (and we didn't suggest it). Instead, the interview was conducted in Miller's office at Park Service headquarters in Harrison. Cynical types might say that was appropriate. Perhaps if we'd said the story was about canoeing (one of Miller's passions), the meeting might have ventured outdoors...

Horsemen's Roundup: Fill me in on your background.
Ivan Miller: I came from Michigan — a place called Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I've worked in the Western parks: Yosemite, Glacier, up in Alaska, in the regional office in Seattle. Overseas, I worked foreign assignments and things. So I've been around for a few years with this outfit.

HR: What do you consider the Buffalo's biggest needs?
IM: I'm still developing a list of basic needs. We need to pay some attention to resource management issues. My biggest need is getting acquainted with the park; it takes a long time to do that. So that's what I'm focusing on now: looking at some of the cultural and natural-resource issues we have to face up to, some of the planning needs we have ahead of us, some of the use things that need special attention — things like that.

HR: Where does the whole horse picture fit in there? Do you ride?
IM: I rode when I was in Yosemite and Glacier for part of my work. I haven't done much of it since. I'm more of a canoe person than a horse person.

HR: Then you're in the right place.
IM: That's one of the reasons I wanted to be here.

HR: So what brought you here?
IM: The resource itself, and the canoeing part of it. I did a lot of canoeing in Minnesota and Michigan and Alaska, and I really enjoy it. I had visited here once before and thought this would be a great area to work in.

HR: How long ago were you in Yosemite and Glacier?
IM: Back in my early career days, in the late '60s.

HR: Have you done any riding since you've been here?
IM: I have not.

HR: Any plans to?
IM: The occasion might come up. It's a traditional use of the park, and we support it, we foster it, we think it's a great thing, and we want to participate in it.

HR: How many horse trails are there on the Buffalo?
IM: It varies, because everything is interlaced. If I have my numbers right, I think there are about 125 miles of trails that are designated for horse use, but hikers can use those too; they're multi-use trails. And there's another 150 miles of primitive trails, which are not maintained but are used for horses.

HR: So is it the Buffalo National River or the Buffalo National Park?
IM: The title is Buffalo National River...

HR: But it's a park?
IM: It's part of the National Park System. There are over 385 units in the National Park System. They have a lot of different designations — some are national parks, some are national monuments, some are national memorials, some are national rivers.
This was the first one of that title. It was established in 1972. I think there are seven or eight other national rivers in the country now, but this was the first one. It was set aside by Congress to preserve this free-flowing stream, which is relatively unpolluted and unchanged.
We only control a small percentage of the watershed for the Buffalo River. And that's one of the big issues here: Most of the impacts on the river come from outside the boundary of the river in the watershed. Ninety percent of the watershed, we don't have control over. Within the park boundary is just 10 or 11 percent of the watershed. The Buffalo River is 150 miles long; the national river is about 135 miles of it. There are pieces [at each end] in the Forest Service.

HR: So the watershed is the current big issue?
IM: It's an issue because of the human activities outside the park, including agricultural use, housing development, industry; anything that's outside the park that has an impact on the watershed is a concern for us.

HR: What specifically is at issue?
IM: Well, we don't have any control over that land, so we have to work with our neighbors in a cooperative way to help them in their best management practices to take care of the land they control to see that it will not impact adversely the resources of the Buffalo — the water clarity, fish life, animal life that's dependent on it.

HR: What are some things that horseback riders need to do to better preserve the resource?
IM: Staying on trails when they use the park. They need not to be widening or increasing the trails, starting new trails, limiting their party size.

HR: How many horse camps are there?
IM: There's one at Steel Creek and one at Erbie.

HR: Wasn't there some discussion at some point about adding another one?
IM: There was. They can also camp overnight at Woolum. There are some places in the lower wilderness area that are available for horse use — one at Hathaway Gap and Big Creek.
We're probably not going to be developing any more horse camps right now. What we really need to do is develop a horse-use management plan. Because, from what I've been told, horse use has doubled in the last 10 years or so.

HR: Do you have a sense of the numbers of horseback riders?
IM: No, we don't have specific numbers. We just have anecdotal evidence from our field people who say they've seen an increase. Because the horse people don't always register. And unless we have some way of counting them, it's pretty hard to get a handle on it.

HR: Do you the increase continuing?
IM: It seems to be on a regional basis a very popular activity. And people seem to be finding out more about the trails and things. I don't anticipate it changing much — unless we get to the point where it gets too crowded.

HR: Is there a point you might limit access?
IM: I don't anticipate that. But we hope to do the horse-use management plan, and maybe we'll project some of those things. But I don't anticipate a time when there will be a limit.

HR: Do you have any idea what the management plan will entail?
IM: No, I've got to get some people working on that. I think we have to look at the number of designated horse trails we have; we need to look and see whether we need some more horse camps. I don't know if we need any more or not; we might. Current use, predicted use — based on what we see as far as an increase in future use, and what we need to do about it. That's what the plan will have to determine.
This is not a short-term plan, either. It will probably take a few years to develop. And you have to go through various environment compliance steps, and all that.

HR: Who will you be consulting with to develop that plan?
IM: Our staff, mainly. But we'll check with other people. We can't have advisory groups as such, though.

HR: Do you have any horse people on your staff?
IM: Yeah, we do. We have our own horses here, you know. We have horses at the Lower District and the Upper District.

HR: Horses the rangers use?
IM: Yes. For trail patrol; they go out and check the trails, check the use, do law-enforcement work.

HR: What's your personal priority overall, in terms of the different needs of the park?
IM: That's a big question. I look to the direction that Congress has given us when they established the river: They said, "Protect, conserve, preserve the free-flowing Buffalo River, so it can be used now and in the future." So anything that hinges on or tears off that resource-protection need is what I'm interested in and what our management team here is interested in — preserving those things that will preserve the river and the historic uses of it, the cultural identity of it, the natural resources associated with it.

HR: Specifically, what priorities do you have?
IM: Well, we're involved with the Bear Creek issue right now. That's a big issue. There's a proposal for a dam on Bear Creek, which is one of the major tributaries. That would have a major impact on the river itself. But I can't talk about that much, because it's in litigation right now. [Last fall, seven environmental groups filed a federal lawsuit accusing the Army Corps of Engineers of illegally approving plans for the dam. The Park Service has objected to the dam over environmental concerns.]
We're doing a lot of research on the entire river, looking at impacts on the river from various outside, and inside, activities. We're trying to formulate what plan of action we need to come up with in response to what we might find; we don't know for sure what those research results will produce.

HR: Any chance you will reduce the number of horse trails?
IM: I don't anticipate that.

HR: Have you heard from many horse people since you've been here?
IM: Yes, I met some the first day I was here.

HR: What kind of feedback are you getting from them, and what concerns have been brought to you, if any?
IM: There is a concern I've heard indirectly that we will be limiting horse use or cutting back on horse use, and that's not true. Now, we are looking at some additional trails. Other groups are looking at the Ozark Highlands Trail, which is supposed to go from Fort Smith all the way up to St. Louis. Part of that will go through the park.
And we're looking right now at the location of that, from XXXX to where it connects with the Forest Service piece at XXXXXX. We have to get a route established, and that is still in the planning stage.

HR: Are you working with the Forest Service on that?
IM: We worked with the Forest Service, but that was before I got here so I don't know much about that. But they've already pretty well got their piece of it planned and lined up. I think some volunteer groups are working on that now.

HR: Do horse people need to be concerned that having the OHT go through here might mean that a horse trail could be given over to the hikers?
IM: I don't think so. We're still in the planning stages, but I'll say again there is no anticipation of the reduction of horse use in the park.
The Ozark Highlands Trail in most of its length is strictly a hiking trail. But we have places in the park where it's called the Buffalo River Trail but it will be a component of the OHT where there is co-usage with the hikers and horseback riders. We anticipate that will continue.

HR: So you're not considering taking existing horse trails and converting them to hiking-only trails?
IM: That's correct.

HR: Then why do so many people think that?
IM: I don't know. And we keep telling them this. Some people don't listen.

HR: Maybe it goes back to the history of suspicion involving the Buffalo and the Park Service. Maybe they don't believe you.
IM: It could be.

HR: Another thing that worries some horse people is that the hiking community is very united and typically acts as a single voice concerning hiking issues, but the horse community is much more fragmented. So they tend not to get heard, because they don't get together. Does that have an effect on what gets heard?
IM: We always listen to all our constituents. But this is not a voting management scheme. You may have 10 people saying this and five people saying that. But we don't go by votes. We are paid to be professional managers and look to our resource professionals on staff, get the best scientific information we can and see what the best thing is for the river, protecting the resources — while allowing for use at the same time.
We key on those things needing attention so we can protect the resources and provide for use. So we have a twofold mandate: provide for enjoyment and use, and protect the resource.

HR: If people have concerns about what's happening with the trails, what should they do — is there a place they can call, a right person to talk to; should they write?
IM: They can do all that. All the information they need is right here [on the official Buffalo River map: Buffalo National River, P.O. Box 1173, Harrison AR (501) 741-5443]. And we have a website too [www.nps.gov/buff].

HR: But is there a point person? Should they call you?
IM: It depends on the nature of the question.

HR: Okay, horses.
IM: Well, Sam Lail is our point man on horse use. You can start here [at the Harrison office], and we'll find the right place for people to get their questions answered. We like to have things in writing because conversations,frankly, can be misconstrued sometimes. But if you give us a specific question, we'll give you a specific answer. We'll write to you. You can use email, regular mail.

HR: Are you doing anything to make the park more horse friendly?
IM: We're widening the trails in some places. I'm not exactly sure where; our trails specialist would know — Zed Davenport. We have improved the horse camp at Steel Creek this year. We're putting in better restrooms. We're starting to charge fees down there. We've improved the water system.

HR: Let's go back to fees. Why start doing that?
IM: Well, we've charged fees before; we've just increased the number of campgrounds where we charge fees. Because we're required to charge fees anytime we provide water or grills or the basic amenities. At the primitive campgrounds, we don't charge. And if we turn the water off at these places, we'll stop charging. But Congress has told us we need to be charging the people who use the facilities and services for their fair share of maintaining them, so that's what we're doing.

HR: Ever since the Buffalo received its national designation, it's been a thorny issue to many folks in the area. Has it been tough for you to figure it all out? There's so much history here...
IM: There's a lot of history, and there's a lot of bad feeling here.

HR: Has that been tough?
IM: It's always tough when you're dealing with people's feelings and intense interest in the land, especially those people who had their land purchased from them — not necessarily always willingly — to preserve the river. But, on the other hand, had this not been done by Congress, there would likely be a big lake here now and even more people would have lost their land. They planned to have a dam here, but Congress felt this area should be preserved because it's special to all people in the United States. So they set up the mandates for preserving it and directed the Park Service to purchase the land and make a national river for everybody.
Any park in the country that's been developed in the last few generations has gone through the same growing pains. Because earlier, Western parks, when they were developed, they were established by Congress and it was mostly out of public domain — land that was already in federal ownership. Yellowstone, Yosemite — that was all government, publicly owned land. But the newer parks almost always are carved out of private lands with some contributions by state parks, as there were here.
So there's bound to be some hard feelings. We can only hope that with good stewardship of the land here those feelings will ease as generations pass through and people see the value economically, recreationally, spiritually and physically for now and future generations.

HR: Another potentially thorny issue is prescribed burns.
IM: We do prescribed burns; we burned about 3,000 acres last year and are hoping to burn about 10,000 acres next year. It's done under very stringent conditions, and it's good for the land, it's good for wildlife, it's good for our neighbors and it prevents uncontrolled wildfires in later days. We've had very good support from our neighbors. We work in conjunction with the State of Arkansas and the Forest Service, in some cases.
In fact, burning the land is a traditional use in the Ozarks — getting it ready for agriculture.

HR: But what about those people who might have been caught in the park during the burn and didn't know it was going to be happening?
IM: Well, sometimes we haven't maybe been the best at notifying our neighbors that it's happening. We've had a few complaints that have been our fault. We failed to notify some people. But we've been diligent in trying to rectify the situation. We learn more each time we do a burn.

HR: What else have you learned this year?
IM: I've learned a lot about watersheds that I didn't know. Dye-tracings and things we do, putting in river gauges and things, how the water levels are so affected by the flooding, which is amazing to me. How an intense rainstorm at one end can bring the river up so quickly many miles down the river. How treacherous it can be.

HR: Do you have any advice for the first-time Buffalo River horseback rider?
IM: Go with experienced riders who have been in the park before. Get a map to where you're going to go and stay on the trail. And have a good time — because there's a lot of good times to be had out there.

HR: Regarding the management plan, is there going to be a vehicle for community input?
IM: Oh, there will always be. When we do our planning, there's always public input.
In the fall, we had three or four public meetings about the Ozark Highlands Trail, and there were not very many people there. It was an open house to receive public comment and answer questions. We don't have our mind made up yet; we're still working on this thing.
Frankly, we haven't gotten as many comments as we anticipated.

HR: What do you recommend that people do who want to have some input and keep up with the management plan?
IM: We'll be putting out another announcement as soon we get a draft together. There will be another chance to make comments on it. We'll put out another press release. It'll be on our website.

HR: Is the Buffalo any different from your other posts?
IM: It's a special place. It's a great resource, and I think the folks of Arkansas, and this Ozark region, ought to be really happy that Congress set it aside. It's a terrific resource.