Cattle crapping in the Eleven Point

[MARK]

A couple buddies and myself spent a week floating and fishing the Eleven Point this summer. A great week with good fishing.

EXCEPT for one thing;

We had been wanting to go all the way up to Thomasville for some new scenery and smallmouth fishing. It was early June so we expected to have to portage our canoes is spots, the river is not more than a creek in several spots. No problem. But at several spots, cattle roamed free without fences to keep them out of the water. At one point, a cow crossed right in front of us, stopping in midstream and took a CRAP. We could not believe it!!!! I thought it was illegal, but after talking to some locals, they told us that a couple of ranchers own land on both sides of the river and it's legal for them to use the river as a water source for their livestock!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! I am assuming this section of the river is outside the National Scenic Waterways, but the feces eventually ends up downstream. If this isn't illegal, it should be, regardless if the farmer owns land on both sides of the river, they still don't own the water. These farmers should have to put up fences well back from the river and build ponds for a water source for the cattle. It was disgusting, needless to say, we lost our desire to fish this section of the river or visit this strech of river again. This is only about 15 miles above Greer. The locals told us these were big operations with several thousands acres, so it's not like they have no other options. It was a beautiful section of river with several springs and is being polluted by a few selfish farmers.

Does anyone know if anything can be done about this?
The Eleven Point is my favorite place in the world and it made me sick to see what is happening upstream.

[Steve King (Admin)]

Mark,

This is such a shame and I agree with you 110%. Unfortunately, our hands may be tied. I have asked a couple of experts in the Eleven Point region to chime in on this topic. Hopefully they will respond and we will see what they have to say. I know that similar concerns on the Jacks Fork have arisen in the past regarding horse dung due to all of the trail rides around Eminence.

Steve

[John Bird]

Greetings,

First, although a major fan of the Eleven Point River, and invited by Steve to post here, I do not consider myself an "expert".

The stretch from Thomasville on down is part of the Scenic Riverway. When the Scenic Riverway was implemented, the Scenic Easement agreements between the government and each of the private landowners varied widely. One reason for this was that many of the current uses were "grandfathered in". Thus, if someone were watering their cattle in the river they would be allowed to continue the practice, but if someone were not currently watering cattle in the river they would not be allowed to start doing so. There are of course many stories circulating about other reasons that some landowners had more or less lenient Scenic Easement agreements. Watering cattle in the river is certainly one of the most regrettable practices allowed by some of the Scenic Easements.

So, given the current legality of some landowners watering cattle in the river, the question becomes "What can be done about it?” I am not familiar with Missouri's Department of Natural Resources (DNR), but I've recently read that many people feel DNR is more interested in promoting industry than protecting water quality, and would therefore be unlikely to do anything about the cattle in the river. Like I said, I'm not familiar with DNR so you should form your own opinion about them.

Although it sounds like a regulatory solution is unlikely there are other options. There are state/federal programs that pay most of the cost of fencing cattle out of the river, and providing an alternate water source for the cattle. However, if I were the rancher, even if the fence was free, the thought of having to maintain it would make me hesitate to accept the fence, especially if the fence is prone to being flood damaged. So, there needs to be some additional incentive above (nearly) free fencing.

Part of the reason the Eleven Point River Conservancy was formed in 2002 is to work with willing landowners to manage their properties in a "river friendly" manner. As a 501(C)(3) we are sometimes able to provide tax incentives to landowners for voluntary conservation practices. As a practical matter, as a small organization our current projects are keeping us busy and we have not yet contacted the landowners along the Thomasville/Greer stretch of river. We hope to be able to do that in 2006. Our hope is to establish a good rapport with landowners and provide incentives for keeping the river cattle-free. Time will tell whether this is a more or less effective approach than creating and enforcing water quality regulations.

On the bright side, in spite of the frustration of canoeing amongst the cattle, there are many people at the Forest Service and Mo Dept of Conservation that share your feelings. These fine folks are doing what they can to help, within the limitations of their budget and authority. Recently a contact at the Forest Service told me that they had reached an agreement with a landowner to keep cattle out of his stretch of the river. Hopefully they will eventually reach such agreements with the remaining landowners that have in-river watering rights.

As someone whose favorite place is the Eleven Point River, I hope you will contact us directly. We’re always glad to meet other folks that care about the Eleven Point.

John Bird

Eleven Point River Conservancy
www.elevenpointriver.org
[e-mail]

[coldspring]

Look on the brightside, if there weren't two landowners that owned everything from Thomasville to Cane Bluff there would be hundreds of landowners if they subdivided their ranches. Think of how much uglier and nastier all those people, and their septic systems, would make the place than a few cows. If you've ever watched an African river nature program, you would learn how important hippos are for the river systems. I think a few extra nutrients is actually better for the fishing, there are some lunker smallies in this strip.

Willow Springs is way up the drainage, so when there is a heavy rain the sewer ponds have some drainage coming down through there to.