I have a question

[Wayne SW/MO]

I agree that individual concerns directed at the DNR can't hurt. If the only voices they hear are the Farm Bureau, or Steelman and company, then thats who they will please.

They haven't done the best of jobs, but in todays political environment its hard to know if its from a lack of funds, incompetence, or plain old political interference. Pushing issues and checking results would benefit us all by forcing the issues.

[Phil Lilley]

All I'm saying- if you don't call authorities, nothing will get done.

I sent an email alerting Dave of the thread on the forum. He passed it on to higher authorities. But from I understand, they were waiting on a call from someone who witnessed it. They aren't going to act on a post on a forum by someone who's not even identified.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Phil maybe this would be a good place for Dave to let everyone know how to make a complaint, what a reasonable complaint is, and how much information is necessary.

I'm thinking possibly a pinned article laying out what authority the DNR has and what information needs to accompany a complaint.

[Phil Lilley]

The ask has been made. Very good idea.

[hank franklin]

Is MoDOT replacing the bridge there? Why would the dozer be in the creek? It might have actually had a legitimate reason to be there.

I'm not taking sides, just saying. If I saw a dozer in the creek I'd try to get an idea why it was there. Whose name was on it? Was there a trailer nearby?

I wouldn't call DNR until I'd made a few calls in the local area. There may be a good reason for it to be there and the work may in fact have been permitted.

Of course, it may not have been. But I wouldn't make allegations until I knew the whole story.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I wouldn't call DNR until I'd made a few calls in the local area. There may be a good reason for it to be there and the work may in fact have been permitted.

Wouldn't that be DNR's job?

[bryantsmallie28]

Yeah I would like to know exactly what information you would need and exactly what number to call. I looked on the website and wasnt sure, and as witnessed by my lack of being on here recently i have been really busy working and turkey hunting and I have a brother who is a senior playing high school baseball at mansfield, so i have been really busy and havent had much time to do anything. and no they were not replacing a bridge, and i couldnt get anything of the dozer because i was going somewhere and saw it and just thought "what the crap is that" and was never by there again until the dozer was gone. I really hope it wasnt but this is the second time i think i have seen landowners doing there own idea of stream management. I saw the area the other day since the high water and it looks horrible. what used to be a stretch of stream that had some deep holes with some fish in it, and lots of slicks (this was one of my minnow trapping spots) is a straight stretch of 2-3in deep water...pitiful. anyway sorry to rile you guys up on something and not do anything about it but i thought id explain that i wasnt sure exactly how to report it and even if i had enough info on it to do anything about it.

[Phil Lilley]

Got an email from Scott Totten of DNR answering my inquiree on this situation and here's the answer I got. He said they have a 'sand and gravel fact sheet' on their site that explains their authority in these cases and what to do when we see violations. Here's the link-

http://www.dnr.mo.gov/forms/lawsregs.htm

[rebelman]

Good link. All heavy equipment operators near streams should be required to read and follow the recommendations. We had a similar problem in Cherokee Village Arkansas. Some city bureacrat decided a bridge was endangered by gravel, so in the dozers went all over, under, again, redoing, excavating, pushing, hauling, whatever. A wonderful lady active in SOS, (save our spring river) Ruth Reynolds, wrote the local paper repeatedly, and brought in the corps, and the Department of Environmental Quality. Stopped that fast.

Maybe if the national guard wasn't in Iraq, they could be inpectors for water quality.