U.S. Rep. French Hill this week unveiled the sign designating a portion of central Arkansas wilderness for former U.S. Rep. Ed Bethune.
Tuesday's ceremony was the culminating celebration of Hill's legislation that adds 640 acres to Flatside Wilderness in Perry and Saline counties.
Bethune, a three-term Republican from Searcy, worked in the 1980s to preserve the 9,541-acre wilderness. Bethune was the House sponsor of the initial legislation that created several wilderness areas in Arkansas, and he worked to sell then-U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers' legislation that ultimately became law, setting aside nine sections totaling 91,100 acres for federally protected wilderness in 1984.
Hill included a provision in his recent legislation to honor Bethune, and the new addition to Flatside Wilderness is called "Bethune Woods-Flatside Wilderness." He said in a Wednesday interview that Bethune was instrumental in Flatside's original designation as wilderness, and he thought that naming a portion of the wilderness that sits in the 2nd Congressional District was a fitting way to honor him.
Bethune said Wednesday that it was special to see the sign that now marks "Bethune Woods."
"It was quite an honor," Bethune said. "I've never wanted anything to be named for me. In fact, I always had a thing against that. Yet this is an exception that I treasure because getting Flatside and the Arkansas Wilderness Act passed in my last year in Congress was a satisfying experience and one of the best things I've ever done."
Hill, a Little Rock Republican in his third term representing Arkansas' 2nd Congressional District, pushed Flatside's expansion, which the U.S. Forest Service said would make management of the land more logical. President Donald Trump signed Hill's legislation into law in January.
Federally designated wilderness enjoys the highest level of government land protection. The designation bars permanent roads, motorized equipment, cars, bicycles and permanent structures.
Congress has designated more than 109 million acres of wilderness; Arkansas is home to about 153,000 acres -- the 19th most of any state.
Flatside is located near the eastern boundary of the Ouachita National Forest on the Perry and Saline county border. The 223-mile Ouachita National Recreation Trail bisects it.
It includes a popular, 1,550-foot-high rock outcropping called Flatside Pinnacle that overlooks the Ouachita Mountains.
As a Senate staff member, Hill worked on the legislation that initially set aside Flatside in the 1980s. He said he has often hiked and camped there, and that federally designated wilderness offers visitors "that feeling of truly being in solitude."
"It's been a real pleasure for me over the last three decades to enjoy Flatside, and now as a member of Congress, to help enhance it so that we will protect this area and make it something special for many generations to come," Hill said. "This expansion of Flatside creates a special opportunity to preserve our wildlife and natural resources while also boosting Arkansas' economy. I am particularly pleased to celebrate this addition named after a tireless conservationist and advocate for Arkansas' wilderness, former Congressman Ed Bethune."
Hill is also working on the prospect of adding additional wilderness land in Arkansas. An appropriations measure signed by Trump in February included a provision authored by Hill and U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., that directs the U.S. Forest Service to study adding existing forests in Perry County adjacent to Flatside to the National Wilderness Preservation System.
Hill said that the Forest Service's study "won't happen overnight."
Bethune on Wednesday said that Flatside's expansion created an opportunity to discuss the value of wilderness with new generations. He noted that in Flatside there's no cellphone signal.
"It gives people an opportunity to get away from the hubbub," he said. "Once you enter many of these areas that are indeed remote, you're out there on your own. It's a sort of forced isolation when you're out there. That's a good thing."
Metro on 09/05/2019