News Release

Closure Due To Prescribed Fire at Buffalo National River

Map of Buffalo National River Lower Wilderness Area

NPS

News Release Date: February 22, 2019

To ensure public safety from February 27 to March 27, 2019 a portion of the Lower Buffalo Wilderness will be closed to the public so that a prescribed burn can take place. 

The river corridor will not be closed. Canoes and john boats will be allowed on the river and camping will be allowed on gravel bar areas.

From February 27 through March 27, 2019 a controlled burn is planned to take place on public lands administered by the National Park Service inside the Lower Buffalo Wilderness, Buffalo National River. The actual dates will be determined based on weather conditions. The 11,284 acre Lower Buffalo Wilderness Prescribed Fire unit is located in southeast Marion County approximately 7 miles southeast of Flippin. It is anticipated that the entire unit will take 8 to 12 days to burn from start to finish. It is expected that several periods of predetermined favorable weather conditions may be necessary to complete the burn. To ensure public safety during this time all horse and foot traffic will be prohibited in the Lower Buffalo Wilderness, but the river will be open to boat traffic and camping will be allowed on gravel bars. As soon as the burn is complete and the area is considered safe the closure will be lifted. 

The purposes for conducting the prescribed burn is to promote the restoration and maintenance of fire as a natural component of ecosystem processes. The prescribed burn will reduce the accumulation of dead and down fuels lowering the chances for a catastrophic wildfire in the future, and to provide wildfire protection for adjacent lands.

The area of the closure is on the north side of the Buffalo River, bounded on the north by the park boundary between Cedar Creek and the White River, and on the south by the Buffalo River (see attached map).