The Buffalo National River is the United States's first federally-protected river and one of America's great natural treasures. The entire Buffalo River is about 144.2 miles in length, of which 130 miles sit within the boundries of the National Park Service. It meanders through the heart of the Ozark Mountains in northern Arkansas before joining the White River. The preserve covers 135 miles of the river and is home to the state's only elk herd. The upper section of the river in the Ozark National Forest is managed by the U.S. Forest Service as a National Wild and Scenic River.
The Buffalo River became the Buffalo National River by an Act of Congress on March 1, 1972. The designation as a National River protects natural rivers from industrial uses, dams, empoundments and other obstructions that change the character of the river and disrupt the natural land and water life that flourishes there.
Beginning as a trickle 15 miles above the park boundary, the Buffalo River begins as the Hailstone River in the Boston Mountains of Newton County, Arkansas. The Buffalo National River forms at the confluence of Reeves Fork and Big Buffalo Creek just northeast of Fallsville, then flows north through Boxley to Ponca, where it begins a west-to-east trek across northern Arkansas to its confluence with the White River on the Marion-Baxter County Line just south of Bull Shoals Lake.
Along the upper river, the gradient is steep and the water is fast, leveling and slowing as the river runs its course. The upper section of the river has most of the whitewater rapids to be found along the river, but also features some very beautiful topography, among which are sink holes and caves, springs and waterfalls, 500-700 foot tall limestone bluffs overlooking the river, and many interesting rock formations. At one point, a half-mile hike off the river up a narrow, dead-end canyon leads to a 200-foot waterfall, the highest of its kind between the Southern Appalachians and the Rockies. The river's ancient current also gives life to well over 300 species of fish, insects, freshwater mussels, and aquatic plants.
The National Park Headquarters are Located in Harrison, Arkansas.
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