Yes, we all have a To-Do List, and whether we actually write things down or keep the list in our head, everyone has a list of things to do. I have one, and it changes daily, and I have found out unless I write it down it has a very low chance of getting done.

This morning, the first item on my list was "Buy Coffee!" Is that important? If you start your morning with at least two cups of coffee as Vertis and I do, yes, it would seriously impact our day if we ran out of coffee.

But enough about my list. Let's get serious and look at things we need to do in the Natural State.

Of course, a lot of the items on the list are old hat, but they are still simmering on the list. The easiest way to cop out of things is to not put them on the list.

(1) The first thing that comes to my mind is a newspaper article a couple of weeks back, which said Springdale was going to upgrade their wastewater disposal system with a $25 million dollar infusion... but it wasn't going to lower the phosphorous content of the waste water.

Hummm... That reminds me of what my Sainted Daddy would say when he told me to wash the car: "Richard, don't do a half-ass job, or you will have to do it over."

Attention Springdale: The folks who are trying to clean up the Illinois River Watershed think y'all are doing a half-ass job.

(2) The University of Arkansas Board of Trustees: I'm writing as a grad with my name on two Senior sidewalks. The Board should be ashamed of relegating 7,000,000 historic items from the University Museum to a storage building.

When I was a student I worked in the Museum, which was on the top floor of Old Main. Back then it was a wonderful, very impressive collection of historic Arkansas going back all the way to pre-Columbian artifacts. Later it was moved to the old Barnhill Field house, and then to a storage building north of the campus.

"Trustees: The next time the football Hogs play Alabama at Alabama, journey over and check out the Alabama Historical Museum. I'll bet you'll come away embarrassed at what y'all are doing with our historic treasures. If you can spend 160 million for fat cat end zone boxes at Razorback Stadium, and you can't scrape up even a tenth of that amount for an on campus Arkansas Historical Museum Exhibit Hall? Shame on you!"

(3) The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission: Of course y'all are on the list, but first let me compliment your work with our lakes, streams and deer herd.

Just yesterday, across from my house on Calion Road, I noticed a big doe, and in the tall grass was not one but two fawns. Then, this morning, I was heading to town and drove on the street behind the Country Club, and a small herd of deer, five doe and a big eight-point buck crossed in front of me.

Growing up in the 1950s and early 60s in the woods nearly every day of hunting season, I never saw that many deer. The Game and Fish Commission has done a great job with our deer herd, and our multiple lakes and streams are wonderful.

But don't rest on your laurels. The deer herd is in danger! CWD is threatening to infect the entire herd. Feral hogs are multiplying like Texas Fire Ants, and our quail are gone, and next on the list will be our ground nesting turkeys.

(See the Australian study on feral hogs. Australia is the feral hog capital of the world. It has more hogs than people.) I quote: "Feral hogs have decimated ground nesting birds." Yes, Commissioners, quail and turkeys are ground nesting birds!

Here's the solution: In the 1920s, when the Game and Fish Commission was formed, a $10 bounty was put on bobcats, wolves and cougars. That resulted in removing +95% of the apex predators from our state, but in their place came every scavenger you can imagine (feral hogs, coons, possums, armadillos etc).

To reverse this situation you should do two things: First, put a 1925 era bounty on feral hogs -- in today's dollars, which would be north of $150 per hog. Hey, it worked in 1925 to get rid of apex predators, so why not hogs in 2022? I will guarantee you one feral hog will do more than $150 a year in damages.

Number two is obvious: put a moratorium on the few remaining apex predators in the state and restock. They will help reduce the hog numbers, and ultimately be the only way to control the mushrooming hog explosion.

A lady, who lives down near the Ouachita River recently spotted a sow walking by her house followed by 15 piglets. As a bonus, the apex predators will help control CWD. (See the Yellowstone wolf story.)

(4) The Arkansas Waterways Commission: Quit dreaming about seeing a barge coming up the Ouachita River to Camden. It ain't gonna happen! Give us back our tree clogged river, and recommend the Corps drop the navigable designation, remove the Felsenthal lock and quit trying to pass the buck. Y'all can recommend!

(5) The Arkansas Legislature: Need I say more? It is an absolute disgrace that we are bringing up the rear again and this time it's living in a dirty, environmental backwater -- our state!

Yes, that's the overall environmental condition of our state, and ultimately it is the responsibility of the Legislature to pass laws which will eliminate everything from one use plastic utensils and plastic bags to putting some teeth in the existing ordinances and phasing out the coal fired electrical generating plants.

Yes, there are laws on the books, which are not enforced, addressing the literally hundreds of environmental needs everywhere from the Highway Department to the Governor's office, and a big part of it is the fault of a do-nothing legislature.

Increase the roadside littering fine to $5,000, and enforce it, if you are serious about cleaning up our roadways.

(6) The next item on my list should be on everyone's list: Be involved.

Here is an example: We all complain about roadside trash, but rarely do we do anything about it. I do pick up the beer cans, etc, along the part of Calion Road, which runs in front of our home, but there are two guys I frequently see picking up roadside trash from the roadside down Smith Street and the 167 bypass and around up to Calion Road. They are just citizens who, instead of complaining about a problem, are doing something about it.

(7) Now let's get personal; this one is for you, the reader of the column: If you want to be part of the solution pick one of the following

- clean up 100 yards of street or highway

- support environmental programs by letter writing once a week

Last but not least, plant a tree.

If you don't like being part of the To-Do-List, do something!

Richard Mason is an author and speaker. He can be reached at [email protected]

Print Headline: The to-do list

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