ROAR Welcomes You!

Whether you call us "ROAR," or our full name "Rags Over the Arkansas River," our organization is dedicated to preserving and protecting the headwaters of the Arkansas River, the Bighorn Sheep Canyon, its inhabitants and the communities that depend upon them.

Our founding project has been to formally oppose Christo and Jeanne Claude's "Over the River" project. This project involves suspending horizontal fabric panels within a 45 mile stretch over the Arkansas River's Bighorn Sheep Canyon. Hence the name "Rags Over the Arkansas River." The acronym ROAR soon became our primary moniker.

IMPORTANT OTR Summary news: If Christo's 2,000 page plan has been too much for you to read and digest, take a look instead at ROAR's new summary and point-by-point analysis. It's in easy to read, easy to understand format. (You will need the free Adobe PDF reader.)

In response to requests for a non-PowerPoint version of our slide presentation, you may now view a photo show directly on our website. View the presentation now.

Another accident on Hwy 50 highlights traffic concernsprojected for OTR construction and display.

How to find out more about OTR

Click through our website links to learn about:

• How the influx of the projected 600,000-1,000,000 tourists will create a traffic nightmare on the narrow 2-lane canyon highway (U.S. 50).
• How emergency and fire personnel will have great difficulty responding to accidents or fires in the canyon or surrounding area.
• Concerns as to the increase in visitors also bringing more litter and human waste to the canyon.
• Permanent defacement of the riverbanks.
• Bighorn sheep, elk, deer and other wildlife kept from accessing the river for water.
• Bald and golden eagles kept from fishing and hunting.
• Difficulty, or even impossibility, of fishing of these waters.
• Negative economic impact on commercial and recreation industries that travel the canyon daily.