OZARK Ozark Rivers National Monument A Proposal

The National Monument as proposed includes or adjoins certain lands now administered by State agencies or the U.S. Forest Service.

Portions of the Lower Current and Eleven Point Sections lie within the boundary of Clark National Forest. A total of approximately 2,600 acres in these sections are in Federal ownership and administered by the U. S. Forest Service. Located as they are along or near the rivers, the Forest Service recently gave recognition to recreation as the dominant value of these lands. Under this designation, or zoning, no timber harvest for commercial purposes would be allowed within 1,000 feet of the river bank.

The corner of Clark National Forest also overlaps the proposed Monument along the Upper Current; however, no lands in Federal ownership and administered by the Forest Service are involved.

No State park land is included within the proposed boundary; however, Round Spring State Park is surrounded by the Monument and three others are contiguous to it—Big Spring, Alley Spring, and Montauk. The Federal and State areas, in this situation, should complement and supplement each other to good advantage in the public interest. Cooperative planning in their respective development, management, and interpretive programs would effectively further this opportunity.

The State Conservation Commission would be more effected, in a sense, since approximately 15,000 acres of lands they administer are included. These are managed for forestry purposes and comprise a crazy quilt pattern of scattered tracts in the Cardareva Section. Peck Wildlife Management Area lies just outside the proposed boundary south of the central Cardareva Section. Of the Deer Run Refuge, now administered by the Commission for forest management purposes, approximately 200 acres bordering the Current River lie within the proposed Monument.

The Cathedral Arch of Jan Up Cave. Charles S. Schuster, National Park Service