As I look back on my life from pre-teen to senior status, I can easily say I have spent literally thousands of hours hunting in our woods, fishing in our lakes and streams, and the results are an appreciation of the natural beauty, and that has given me a continuing desire to do what I can to protect and enhance our State's Environment. As the years pass, I continue to treasure the natural beauty of our state more and more, and I want to do everything I can to protect and enhance it. I'm sure my early teen and pre-teen years had a lot to do with my appreciation of the natural beauty of our state.

As a preteen and teen, I lived on a small 20-acre farm about 100 yards from a little creek and a heavily forested creek bottom. There were very few days that passed that I didn't head down to Goodwin Creek where I fished, hunted, trapped, and during the summer when I swam naked in a perfect "Swimming Hole" in the little creek. I can still remember having to run the snakes out before I hit the water.

I'm sure those early years, which exposed me to the Natural Arkansas, gave me an appreciation of the beauty of our wonderful state, and as an adult, while serving as a member of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, and as the President of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, I expressed my love of the Natural State by actively opposing those who would degrade any part of it. Fighting a couple of battles to keep the Buffalo River running clean and undammed, and organizing the picketing of the Nation's Diamond Mine to keep it from being Commercially Mined, are just a couple of what is still an ongoing battle to keep our State from being environmentally degraded. My service on PC&E was a continuing battle with Commercial Interest who would place the number of jobs a proposal would create has the defining reason for approving a measure that many times would degrade a natural setting.

So, I am very familiar with the Natural State, and I know we already have reasons to call our State "The Natural State. because we do have some scenic "Natural" places in our wonderful State, but sadly, we have some glaring eyesores that detract from our inherent beauty, and this column is going to focus how we can protect and remove some of the eyesores in order to live up to our motto. So, let's take a hard look at some of the worst eyesores and see if we can eliminate them. or at least reduce them. Below are a few suggestions that, if adopted by our Legislators, would move us a lot closer to being a true Natural State. This bill could be called the "The Big Beautiful Environmental Bill." Well, here are just a few items that should be in that bill.

First, and one of the most obvious, is Roadside Litter. Well, it is a huge visual problems that seems to grows daily, but it can be eliminated or certainly reduced. Since tobacco and alcoholic beverage products are a major part of the roadside liter, the Environmental Bill would place a one cent sales tax on them and use the funds received to remove the litter. We could use our incarcerated (in jail) individuals as part of the Highway Cleanup Crews.

(2) Of course, the Environmental Bill should eliminate all plastic non-returnable plastic bags, and non-returnable beverage bottles.

(3) Require all incorporated towns and cities to legislate that every parking lot in an incorporated city or town to have 25% of the lot planted with trees or other landscaping.

(4) Sidewalk Construction: create a sidewalk or trail construction fund from the tax collections that would fund up to 200 yards of new sidewalks or trails for a town or city each year.

(5) Put a $5/tail bounty on Feral Hogs, put a moratorium on bears, restock Wolves, Mountain Lions, and other predators. Then maybe our quail will have a chance to make a comeback.

(6) Form a Committee to coordinate the work to control Climate Change and recommend legislation to control Climate Change. which is becoming worse each year. There first item on their agenda would be to phase out all existing coal-fired electrical generating plants.

(7) Require all new subdivisions to have all underground utilities, and all statewide new electrical renovations be underground.

(8) Require the State Board of Education to mandate at least 30 minutes a day the teaching of Climate Control.

Have a State Personal Income Tax Deduction of $100 per tax return for the planting of at least five hardwood trees.

Have the Legislature increase the money for facilities improvement to existing State Parks, and Create a Committee who will be charged with increasing the number of State Parks. .

Naturally, there are numerous other critical areas that need to be addressed, and the a legislative hearing on the drafting of the Big Beautiful Environmental Bill should ask for the Public involvement, which would focus on further positive items that could be added to the Bill.

© El Dorado News Times