Under the auspices of the 1938 Flood Control Act, the U.S. Corps of Engineers began to pursue an aggressive dam-building campaign. A grateful public generally lauded their efforts, but when they turned their attention to Arkansas’s Buffalo River, the vocal opposition their proposed projects generated dumbfounded them. Never before had anyone challenged the Corps’s assumption that damming a river was an improvement. Led by Neil Compton, a physician in Bentonville, Arkansas, a group of area conservationists formed the Ozark Society to join the battle for the Buffalo. This book is the account of this decade-long struggle that drew in such political figures as supreme court justice William O. Douglas, Senator J. William Fulbright, and Governor Orval Faubus. The battle finally ended in 1972 with President Richard Nixon’s designation of the Buffalo as the first national river. Drawing on hundreds of personal letters, photographs, maps, newspaper articles, and reminiscences, Compton’s lively book details the trials, gains, setbacks, and ultimate triumph in one of the first major skirmishes between environmentalists and developers.

Ken Smith's life-long accumulation of knowledge about the Buffalo River country, including complete trail and river guides and a fascinating sourcebook for geology and history of the Buffalo river area. All in a compact size, with more than 170 photos, maps, and diagrams. Coordinated with National Geographic Maps, Trails Illustrated. Ken Smith is the author-photographer of The Buffalo River Country, the Ozark Society Foundation classic now in its ninth printing.

The 2022 Commemorative Reissue of The Buffalo River Country describes the river, land, and culture of the Buffalo River watershed in northwest Arkansas of the mid-1960s. Editions of the book from 1967, 1970, and 1976 informed the public about the progress of federal legislation to create America's first national river and keep the river from being dammed. This 2022 reissue coincides with the 50th anniversary of the successful legislation to establish the Buffalo National River and includes the text from the 3rd edition (1976); three revisions of the chapter "Past and Future," which kept the reader updated on the status of legislation; and a new Foreword by retired Buffalo National River staff. 13 maps and 150 photos.