Would You Support This Legislation?

[Feathers and Fins]

Ok billybob rents the boat half way through he sees bobbyray and picks him up. Billy bob said he had a 12 pack being honest but bobby ray had a 12 pack to, they had no intent of meeting it was chance but now billy bob gets a citation, I dont think any judge will allow that to hold water. Its not Soviet Russia and wont fly. But the money could certainly buy land and enforcement plus maintain the lands and conserve them.

Step one needs to be protecting the land with an agency that can and will, get the rules for using it on the books after the agency is in place. But still using the NWR as the example it would be easy to say no illegal substanc or Alcahol and have the warden enforce it.

[zander]

It wouldn't work because it forces drunks to be responsible? When I go hunt at Bois D'Arc Conservation Area, I have to stop and fill out a card first. Then when I am done hunting, I have to fill it out with lots of info and drive back to the same spot I got it to turn it in. Now does everybody turn it back in? Probably not. Am I a cheap skate and do not want to pay a ticket for not doing it? Yes. That isn't Soviet Russia either but people do it here.

The problem with the NWR idea is that it will take land away from people who are good stewards of the river now. Plus we have so many great streams, that would be a lot of land to acquire. By targeting stretches of river that are hurting the overall quality and getting them, restoring them, then we can better protect the resource. The Ozark stream stamp would be purchased by individuals just like a trout stamp or duck stamp. It is connected to the person not to the watercraft but would be required to use the rivers in any form of watercraft as defined by some Coast Guard classsifcation that no doubt exists somewhere.

Now does Missouri lead the way and do something like this first or would Arkansas?

[Quillback]

I'm not at all in favor of Arkansas creating an Ozark river usage fee. The AGFC gets 1/8% sales tax in addition to all the other fee money they already get. Not to mention gas leases on AGFC land. And the federal money coming in through the fed tax on certain sporting goods. AGFC gets plenty of money, the issue is where it is spent.

[Quillback]

Here's a couple of budget numbers, you can find out more, if you're interested, by googling "AGFC budget" Budget for 2012-21023 is roughly $73 million. Thought it interesting that they're spending $90,000 on the Joneboro office for furniture and refurbushing (I mention this because I doubt you'd get $90,000/year from an Ozark river usage fee, to get $90,000 you'd have to charge 9,000 users $10 each for example,). Also, it should be noted that about 40% of the AGFC budget is for personnel costs.

"Approved the AGFC budget for fiscal year 2012-13, totaling $72,950,869.

*Approved a budget increase of $90,349 for purchase of office furniture, temporary rent and moving expenses for the new AGFC Jonesboro Regional Office."

[Justin Spencer]

Its a shame is all I'm saying. Someday the resource will all likely be gone. Only in times of crisis people here react and ask for something to be done, but I'm not so sure that will even hold true 10 years from now.

The use of the rivers by drunk canoers do little to hurt the resource in my opinion. As unsightly as trash is in the river, beer cans and water bottles don't really hurt the resource. Land use practices hurt the resource, these crazy weather swings and large floods hurt the resource, maybe overuse by jetboats hurt the resource in conjuction with poor land use, but drunks just hurt our experience. The freedom we enjoy in this country leads to the degredation of the environment. If we are serious about protecting the resource (not the experience) we need to start with stricter regulations on land use practices in the watersheds of these rivers. Limit logging, limit what you can do with the land within a certain distance from rivers and streams, illiminate livestock from rivers and streams. Improve waste water treament systems in towns near ozark streams.

I see the "resource" 12 months out of the year, and it's going nowhere due to overuse by drunk rafters and floaters, erosion and point source pollution could eventually be a different story.

[gotmuddy]

The use of the rivers by drunk canoers do little to hurt the resource in my opinion. As unsightly as trash is in the river, beer cans and water bottles don't really hurt the resource. Land use practices hurt the resource, these crazy weather swings and large floods hurt the resource, maybe overuse by jetboats hurt the resource in conjuction with poor land use, but drunks just hurt our experience. The freedom we enjoy in this country leads to the degredation of the environment. If we are serious about protecting the resource (not the experience) we need to start with stricter regulations on land use practices in the watersheds of these rivers. Limit logging, limit what you can do with the land within a certain distance from rivers and streams, illiminate livestock from rivers and streams. Improve waste water treament systems in towns near ozark streams.

I see the "resource" 12 months out of the year, and it's going nowhere due to overuse by drunk rafters and floaters, erosion and point source pollution could eventually be a different story.

I agree with justin. Trash is bad obviously, but saying that it destroys the river is absurd. Keep cows out of the river if you want to actually do something. Stop logging. I actually believe many of you people just do not like what other people do on the river, so you don't want them there.

[stlfisher]

Why not require individual floaters to buy a license...like we do for fishing. Make the floating and fishing one in the same so fisherman don't get stuck paying twice and neither do floaters. Both parties use the resource, and money from both fees would used to protect the rivers. If you use it you pay for it...like I do when I buy my fishing license.

It wouldn't come out of the business owners pockets and it would be a small enough fee that it shouldn't cause too many issues. Use the opportunity to educate recreational floaters about river use and habitat issues.

[Feathers and Fins]

Why not require individual floaters to buy a license...like we do for fishing. Make the floating and fishing one in the same so fisherman don't get stuck paying twice and neither do floaters. Both parties use the resource, and money from both fees would used to protect the rivers. If you use it you pay for it...like I do when I buy my fishing license.

It wouldn't come out of the business owners pockets and it would be a small enough fee that it shouldn't cause too many issues. Use the opportunity to educate recreational floaters about river use and habitat issues.

Make Peta People support fishing... I can so get behind that fee

[Wayne SW/MO]

Shouldn't all rivers that don't have major dams on them be part of the wild and scenic system? It could even be amended to include rivers that have X miles of river above the lakes and a flow of X cfs.

[gotmuddy]

Why not require individual floaters to buy a license...like we do for fishing. Make the floating and fishing one in the same so fisherman don't get stuck paying twice and neither do floaters. Both parties use the resource, and money from both fees would used to protect the rivers. If you use it you pay for it...like I do when I buy my fishing license.

It wouldn't come out of the business owners pockets and it would be a small enough fee that it shouldn't cause too many issues. Use the opportunity to educate recreational floaters about river use and habitat issues.

so your saying that we should force people to pay to use something that should be free?