Two Rivers at a Confluence: Ozark Riverways meets the General Management Plan
Taking the pulse of opposites:
Ozark Riverways GMP meetings in Eminence and Columbia--continued
Each of the meetings, which were held on consecutive nights in Van Buren, Eminence, Salem, Columbia and St. Louis during the week of June 22 had the same open-house format: a welcome table where visitors could ask questions and sign up for the park’s mailing list, a three-paneled display explaining the reason for the plan and a contextualization of the current phase in its development, four groups of maps and writing tablets manned by Park Service employees who answered questions about the plan and process and wrote down the visitor’s comments, and a center table with comment cards and a box for the completed cards.
“Whatever you think we should do,” “We value your opinion,” “Who knows better than the people who live here?” “These are no preferred alternatives,” “Tell me more.” Park Service employees were noticeably gracious at the Eminence meeting, which park personnel anticipated to be the most hostile of the five because of the region’s history and the fact that the heart of the Riverways courses through the county, the second largest in Missouri. Eminence’s 323 attendees were the largest crowd by far for at least the first four of the week’s meetings: Van Buren, 265, Salem 116, Columbia 127. St. Louis didn’t have numbers by press time.
Deciding on alternatives, then telling the Park Service in Eminence.
Doug Conway, 63, of Eminence, wrote in a letter he brought to the Eminence meeting what proved to be the overwhelming sentiment that night: “I’ve hunted and fished up and down both rivers my entire life, even while living and working in the city. I would also come in every chance I would get. I tried many things and never found anything that I enjoyed as much.”
“I just sat down this afternoon and tried to capture what I felt,” says Conway of his page-and-a-half single-spaced letter, which described his personal history with the rivers. He worked for the Park Service for 32 years and thinks that it was probably good that the park was formed, but feels strongly about maintaining the current level of access to the rivers. In the end, like at least a few in Shannon County, he believes access will slowly be taken away: “They’ve got to the end of time, and we only have a lifetime.”
At the Eminence meeting, Ron Hanger, 46, of Eminence responded bluntly when asked why he supports the no-action alternative, which would continue the guidelines of the current management plan: “Why wouldn’t I want my kids to enjoy the river the same as I have?”
In Columbia, predictably, the other side to this difficult issue was dominant: manage the rivers for conservation, a pristine wilderness experience. The Columbia sentiment was overwhelmingly for the conservation-focused proposed alternative A, which would forbid jet boats on all parts of the rivers all the time.
How was that again? Oh. Here's what I think. In Columbia.
Ken Midkiff of Columbia said he is in favor of a little bit more of a compromise than alternative A alone offers, but voiced the sentiment that is at the heart of this conflict: “People in San Diego own the river just as much as the people in Eminence. It’s a national river.” Theoretically that’s true, but practically it’s Eminence’s river, and its management has been and always will be a challenge.
Paul Rainsberger of Columbia and Gary Leabman of Hermann voiced similar pro-alternative A sentiments at the Columbia meeting. “There’s plenty of other places to take motorboats,” says Rainsberger. Leabman says the resource should be more geared to a wilderness experience, “Missouri is one of the few states with a protected river and we should keep them as scenic as we can.”
Doug Warren, Reynolds County Commissioner, Shannon County Commissioners Tony Orchard and Dale Counts and 152nd District State Representative J.C. Kuessner traveled to Columbia’s meeting to represent what proved to be an underrepresented viewpoint.
Rick Mansfield, of Shannon County, pulled his camouflage-painted 40-HP jet boat just outside the Columbia hotel conference center where the meeting was held and ostensibly offered to answer questions about jet boats. He handed out fliers explaining some facts behind his and other Ozark residents’ perspective: mainly describing the use and reason for jet boats and some history of the ONSR.
The raw comments from these preliminary alternative public comment meetings will be available in a couple of months online.
After the comments are coded into a database, a planning team will gather to develop a Park Service-preferred alternative, which will then be presented for a round of public comment. The new General Management Plan, upon approval, is scheduled to be implemented in the winter of 2012.
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