River silt and road erosion seem unlikely topics for a luncheon at the Country Club of Little Rock, but The Nature Conservancy likes to celebrate its environmental successes in style.
The Sept. 30 gathering took place the day after the The Nature Conservancy and BHP Billiton -- a multinational mining, metals and petroleum company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia -- announced the joint Sustainable Rivers and Forests Initiative, a $14 million investment by BHP that will help protect nearly 3,700 acres of critical riverfront property and forestland in Texas and Arkansas.
The news is big for those living around Greers Ferry Lake and the four forks of the Little Red River that spill into the lake. About 150,000 people depend on Greers for drinking water, and preventing further bank erosion will surely make the lake more appealing to water enthusiasts and other recreational users, said Scott Simon, director of The Nature Conservancy in Arkansas.
"We all know water is life," Simon said during a quiet moment. "Quite frankly, we need it to survive."
Chris Barnesby, BHP Billiton's general manager for gas, said the company's vast investment "will ensure that these valuable natural assets will be around for a long time." The partnership got props from bigwigs at the top -- like Gov. Asa Hutchinson and U.S. Rep French Hill -- as well as local elected officials including Stone County Judge Stacey Avey, Van Buren County Judge Roger Hooper and Clinton Mayor Richard McCormac.
Over a lunch of stuffed cranberry and pistachio chicken with Parmesan whipped potatoes and roasted poultry au jus, many recalled memories of growing up in rural areas and stressed the importance of clean creeks, rivers and lakes for the quality of life for Arkansans.
The other area to benefit from BHP Billiton's generosity through The Nature Conservancy is the Columbia Bottomlands in Texas.
High Profile on 10/09/2016