Update On Water Patrol Cuts

[Justin Spencer]

I was just going through some old posts that I didn't have time to see when I was busy renting canoes to those "evil floaters", and came across the one about losing water patrol. I am happy to say that thanks to everyone calling and writing their representatives the governor decided not to cut the proposed jobs but to lower the equipment budget instead. Needless to say we were relieved on the NFoW because we were set to lose our only officer to cover the NFoW, Bryant Creek, Norfork Lake, and Bull Shoals lake. If you have ever been down here you realize how isolated we are from everywhere, and having a water patrol officer is our only form of law enforcement. He is the first one we call with any type of incident here at the river, because he can concentrate on the waterways and lakes and not have other, meth lab calls to attend to. I think just the threat of having someone possibly watching you deters bad behavior, and am happy that our river has not become the problem river that many others have. The outfitters on this river are all members of the Missouri Paddlers Association, and we follow practices that do as much as possible to deter inappropriate behavior on the river. It is possible for "tourists" to come down, have a good time getting drunk and sick, and go home with little impact to the environment. As with everything there are exceptions, but I am amazed each time I float this river at the lack of trash I see. You do see some beer cans and other trash, but even the stream team clean-ups crews that periodically scour the river often comment on the lack of things to pick up. Thanks must be given to the fishermen and other off-season floaters who always pick up any trash they see, as well as those during the summer who do the same. The state provides us with trash bags that we give to each canoe, and this paired with littering fines, and glass bans, etc. have definately improved the trash situation on this river. As for our beloved water patrol officer, we are happy to still have John, and I am thrilled to see our political system work for once. When I saw the article in the Dispatch talking about the cuts, it seemed like a done deal. Who knew that calling your congressmen and representatives actually works. That was the first time for me.

[Kyle Kosovich]

Justin, Thats great! Glad to hear that he'll be around still. Sounds like he'll have to be conservative with his bullets with a lower equipment budget.

To comment on the trash situation on the NFOW, it is nearly zero. when we participated in the stream clean up this summer (4 boats) we only found 6 bags of trash and it was mostly cans. NO tires, old cars, or any double sided purple dildo, like the Finley River one year. Yes, believe it, all of those were found in the river a few years ago. It's the craziest thing I've ever heard of being pulled out of the river....