Little Rock's mayor Mark Stodola called it "one of the most beautiful places in the entire state," which is saying a lot about a state abounding in beautiful places. And you could see this one if only you peer past the debris and detritus that line both sides of this much abused part of our natural heritage. All the gunk then settles down to the murky bottom of Fourche Creek.
The Friends of Fourche Creek, a consortium of local nature lovers, do more than talk. They contribute their labor to doing what they can to clean up the mess that careless man has made of the creek. To quote one of them, "As bad as this still is, it's not even close to what it was." All the while she was in the process of doing what she could to clear away floating pieces of Styrofoam and other litter that came her way.
You name it and it's doubtless all there in a creek that has become the town dump instead of what it could be. This patch of urban wetland takes up some 1,800 acres. The old cypress trees still rise above the polluted creek like a majestic reminder of what it was and, who knows, might be again thanks to those volunteers who put their man-hours where their mouth is.
But it's enough to make a grown man cry, the stuff that those who just don't care have left for others to discover in its now murky depths. Including old mattresses, portable potties, worn-out sofas, an abandoned 16-foot speedboat . . . you name it if you can even bear to think about it.
Hey, it's only nature we're abusing--and what could be our children's and grandchildren's natural heritage. How does all this stuff get there besides through man's thoughtlessness? Every heavy rainfall sends it racing through the city's storm drains and down into poor Fourche Creek, which eventually carries a lot of it into the Arkansas River. Nature is a proud but unforgiving mistress, recording every thing, missing none of the evidence of its abuse. And yet it endures and may even thrive despite everything.
Stephen O'Neal, a biologist with the state's Game and Fish Commission, notes that the creek plays host to various species of salamander even if they're endangered by all the pollution. "There's animals out there that people just have no idea about because they don't even know that this is here," he says. "It's actually a living, vibrant ecology system, fully functional with fish and macro-invertebrates and turtles. It's got everything that you would have in some of the wildest parts of Arkansas." Including a natural predator named Man.
Editorial on 11/01/2016