Just found out they require a 20 dollar permit to hunt, fish,camp,or launch. Expires yearly at end of July. Might have been ok 25 years ago before the jumping carp took over. Not sure it's worth it now.
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Just found out they require a 20 dollar permit to hunt, fish,camp,or launch. Expires yearly at end of July. Might have been ok 25 years ago before the jumping carp took over. Not sure it's worth it now.
Is it just for White River or is it good on all Federal refuges?
just wrnwr
Better get used to it . Been hearing rumors for several years Feds considering charging to use National Forest lands . White River not the only refuge charging fees , Holla Bend has for years. I think the disabled and old folks can buy a Beautiful America Pass and it covers most federal lands and discount on Corps of Engineers camping fees . I would check to make sure .
Anyone can purchase the America the Beautiful Pass--$80. Good for entrance to (I think) all National Parks, but it does NOT cover the use fee for WRNWR. I purchase the America the Beautiful pass each year and overall it has saved me money.
They just waited til the horse was out of the barn to start it. 30 years ago fishing was great there. then the carp hit it and fishing has taken a downturn. Guess hunting will be the main source.
Gnats smoked the deer herd this year bad! I will still be there missing my $20 lol. Really though....I always have a good time there and feel fortunate to have it.
Define "smoked" pleaseQuote:
Originally Posted by LowePro
The Refuge is a national treasure. Although l don’t fish it any more because of the carp, paying the $20 user fee wouldn’t bother me.
If the money goes back into the refuge, I'm all for it.
Gnats killed a lot of deer on the refuge. My buddy owns a farm and farms another that borders it. He found 57 dead deer this year when the gnats were so bad. May not have been widespread but it was happening there. They bought hay bales and burned em. Set up trail cameras on the bales. The deer were literally directly downwind of the bales. Constant photos with 10-20 deer behind em.
The $20 is worth it. My personal belief though is that everywhere and everything is running out of money because of abuse and mis-use. Now they are having to go grasping at desperate measures to make enough money to support these wonderful places. Priority should go back to preservation and not so much free phones. I work in the ER. It is not uncommon for someone to come in un-insured and be using 3-4 cell phones. It blows my mind! And they come every time they get a runny nose. Wife had to come to ER that I work in and she also is a nurse in same hospital. We are insured to the hilt. My part is $2,000?????? How is any of that fair???? Im debating cancelling insurance because I am learning the best insurance.......is NO INSURANCE.
Because at our hospital if ur un-insured and u pay cash up front you get a 75% discount. If you are an employee at this hospital you get a 10% discount. I would have to pay $900 in that case. Makes sense to drop insurance and start health savings. Someone please correct me if im incorrect.
Our health care system is going in the toilet ! I don't mind paying the fee except it will not be put back in the refuge and we have already paid for the place a 1000 times over with tax dollars. Not including all the timber they have harvested in there the last few years and many years back . It is another great example of goverment dollars wasted . I bet our Congressmen are not paying any extra fees these days . The Russia investigation has cost us MILLIONS , for nothing but charge the little man . I will say we are fortunate to have these river bottoms preserved somewhat anyway. I dont want to sound ungrateful but dang the waste goverment has is ridiculous and we continue to pay for it. All that said I will be paying it
I hunt the east side. Have seen the gnats so bad the guy with the cattle on the levee burned round bales to keep the gnats at bay for the cows. With the wet year, i knew the gnats would be tough. Those deer will bounce back. They always do. Thanks for the info.Quote:
Originally Posted by LowePro
And I've already paid my $20. $20 bucks is worth the price of admission to just be on the refuge!!
Sad to think of all the trees that were cut in recent years in the white and cache river refuges. I’ve seen a lot of it myself and its devastating. Miles and miles of “it’ll be better for the future” heavy duty logging.
Mother nature took her precious time developing that area over centuries but is no match for haphazard logging contracts developed with a pen stroke smile and a handshake.
All we have are memories of a beautiful expanse of flooded hardwoods and sweet dreams filled with skidder ruts and stumps.
Mr R.O. Bell carried his son Don and I camping at Big Island Shute when I was 14. We carried a blanket each and some food.
Don and I slept on the ground and Mr. R.O. slept in the truck. The timber was huge and the forrest floor was covered with
swamp grass about boot top tall. After that trip I spent thousands on thousands of hours tromping that bottom. On a mornings
squirrel hunt you might see 50 deer. Once in while a bear or turkey. I'm glad I got a chance to experience it. They started
cutting the timber a few years after that. I was told by a warden, some time after they started harvesting the timber, that the
University of Arkansas got 60 percent of the money produced from the timber sales and they wanted it all cut. It was and is
a magical place. Even with all the improvements.
Should be Little Island Shute.
well, they surely wouldn't waste it. Except for every once in a while. Like the time they traded the boat ramp on the west side of Morgan Point for 15-18 acres bordering the Notrebes Bend Park. Except when all was said and done it turned out they only had traded the ramp for the timber rights to the acreage. Then after the deal was made but before they had the rights to the timber the paper complaint who had the rights logged it. When the feds got control there wasn't anything to control. The federal employee who brokered the deal retired and nobody was blamed or punished.
If the state didn't do anything about it, those involved are as sorry as the crook that brokered the deal.
Hopefully they will keep select cutting the refuge. Select cuts are essential for wildlife habitat. My brother and I own land that joins the refuge in Ethel and I also belong to a club at Jack's Bay. We select cut our land and so does the camp that I'm in at Jack's Bay. Most camps along the refuge select cut timber, plant food plots and run feeders. I guess that is why so many refuge hunters will walk 2 miles to get close to one of our property lines. We have cover, browse and food sources that the refuge doesn't provide due to mature timber without browse, mast and cover.
If you don't think cutting timber helps wildlife habitat take a drive to Jack's Bay during bow hunting season. A tornado cut a path across the refuge a few years ago, almost every hunter lines up along the tornado damaged timber area. There is tons of browse, cover and mast in the path of the tornado. This holds deer like crazy, smaller trees put on heavy mast trying to reforest the tornado damaged area.
The refuge purcashed all the land that is north of highway 1 (now know as WRNR North Unit) from Potlach Timber Company several years ago. Potlach almost clear cut the land before they sold it. This land has held some of the biggest deer on the entire refuge due to cover, browse and mast crop. This land also needs to be select cut again it has huge trees that are not producing the mast crop that they would with a select cut. I have also also been in a deer lease that part was owned by Anderson-Tully and Chicago Mill owned some of the lease. Anderson-Tully kept their land harvested, Chicago Mill wouldn't harvest their timber. Chicago Mill timber was beatiful but their was no cover. Larger trees were competing against each other and seldom produced mast. I had a stand on Chicago Mill but it didn't take long for me to wise up and move onto Anderson Tully where the browse, cover and mast held the deer and turkeys.
If I'm hunting public land show me where the 1 year old select cut is and I'm in heaven. It amazes me, folks get mad, will move stands and leave an area when the timber is harvested, I'm always grateful that they move because I'm moving in after the cut. The government let the timber go to long before they started harvesting. Washington finally let the Jeff start harvesting after trying for years to do select cuts but the trees are now huge. Hunters look at this and complain about it being clear cut. It is not clear cut but appears to be a hard cut because when they harvest the big trees it leaves a huge open areas. The larger timber keep the young tress from from growing and producing mast. Browse and cover can't grow because sunlight can't reach the forest floor.
I was fortunate enough to grew up hunting and fishing the WRNR, I still live about 13 miles from the Smoke House Hill entrance. I don't like how the government waste tax dollars however $20.00 is a cheap price to pay for what the WRNR has to offer. I would challenge you to find a 160,000 acre lease to hunt and fish for $20.00. You sure can't buy land for that either, we have been offered $4,500.00 dollars per acre for timber land that we own that joins the refuge line. $20.00 won't go far on a land payment for hunting land costing $4,500.00!
I seldom hunt or fish on the refuge now but I will gladly pay $20.00 for that privilege. It is worth that just to be able ride through and enjoy true bottomland habitat.
I think select cutting is very good for the refuge and I don't really mind paying 20$ . I just wished they spent that money on improvements on the refuge like food plots , boat ramps, roads , camping areas and free maps that show designated four wheeler trails .
The negative side of heavy timber harvesting I have noticed is more hackberry, gum, sycamore, and a few other non mass
trees seem to gain ground every time it's harvested. Pecan and persimmon are almost gone from there.