Brad Wimberly

BY DWAIN HEBDA  PHOTOGRAPHY BY NOVO STUDIO

Brad Wimberly’s connection to The Natural State in general and the Mulberry River in specific is a love affair measured in decades. The Louisiana native began a series of personal whitewater pilgrimages in the 1970s, moved to Arkansas full-time in 1980 and bought the then-70-year-old Turner Bend Store a year later. 

“I was back and forth down to the Mulberry and saw that Turner Bend was going to change hands or at least be rented to somebody else,” he said. “That’s when I jumped in.” 

Along with resuscitating the store and expanding the business into cabins, canoes and the range of services it provides today, the soft-spoken Wimberly quickly became the most vocal activist the Mulberry River would ever have.  

“I think conservation has always been in my DNA,” he said. “I remember my very first trip to the Mulberry, we were getting ready to get on the river and there was trash lying all around. So, I insisted that I and my fellow floaters bag it up. We didn’t have any way to haul it all out of there; I think we just bagged it up and set it on the side of the road. But it was like, ‘We ought to clean this up before we get on the river.’ 

“Once I went into business, Turner Bend itself needed cleaning up. It was a dump right here. But the Mulberry also had lots of issues with trash, people just dumped their stuff on the edge of the river.” 

Fighting a losing battle against litter on his own, Wimberly took the advice of a U.S. Forest Service official who suggested an organized cleanup. Sounding like a good idea, Wimberly mentioned the event in his company newsletter with no idea if anyone would show up. 

“And, by golly, they were just breaking the door down to get in and help,” he said. “I mean, not as big a crowd as we have now, but there were dozens that showed up for the very first time. I thought, we’re onto something now.” 

From the cleanup, which has continued to today, Wimberly helped found the Mulberry River Society about 12 years ago. He still serves as treasurer for the group, which has built the access points at High Bank and Indian Creek upriver from the store. In 2013, Wimberly received the Arkansas Environmental Stewardship Award for his work to keep the Mulberry and surrounding environs beautiful. 

Wimberly is proud of that work and the role it has played in attracting generations of paddlers and hikers that have come since. 

“I guess when you say ‘Arkansas’ this is what I think of; this, where my home is now for all these decades,” he said. “I think it represents the iconic landscape of what you think of when you think of Arkansas: the mountains, the free-flowing streams, national forest, all that.”