HOW TO KILL A SCENIC RIVER
By Juanita Shore
If a deviant person or corporation injected enough toxins into the headwaters of a pristine stream they could eradicate the natural life and reduce the river to a sewer in a very short period of time. This short term kill is due to the current carrying the poison throughout the river just as a persons circulatory system carries good or evil contents throughout the body. The difference being the body’s circulatory system is a closed circuit, where a river’s system is thought to be a one way street. This at first glance would indicate that if the destructive organisms entered midway in the river only the lower half would be effected and the upstream portion would remain pristine. This assumption would probably hold true if it were a one time hit. However, if the destructive agent persisted over many years would the damage eventually work its way upstream? My intent in this article is to see if this supposition could occur.
In one of my articles I referred to the Elevenpoint River as a beautiful translucent snake. I also implied in that article that maybe this snake had a disease in its tail, namely, the Arkansas portion of the river. As Missouri is upstream from Arkansas possibly we can rest easily in the hope that Arkansas’s sins won’t blemish our little bit of paradise and we can sacrifice the snake’s tail as the body will be intact for us to enjoy for years to come. We need to see if this is true, or, are we casting into a false "Honey-hole?"
Throughout this article I will point out some conditions I think are wrong and will try to give reasons why I think they are. But, in the end, it is going to take scientific studies to determine fears from facts. The findings should be free of any influence from special interest groups and individuals, myself included. The studies should be made public and in their unaltered state.
I will designate the Arkansas-Missouri state line as the dividing point and will assume that the worse continues to happen in Arkansas. I will presume that bureaucrats are still alive and thriving and in the foreseeable future the watershed destruction will be complete. I will presuppose that herds of free ranging cattle will become the streams main inhabitants. I’ve heard they will readily hit on ears of corn if retrieved in a natural manner. With the watershed in shambles, erosion can become rampant and further widen and slow the river’s flow. Then the twenty-five horsepower outboard motors will be better able to churn the barren mud banks into chocolate soup. The occasional septic tank leaks from the growing number of summer and permanent homes now being built along the stream bank can assist in changing the total make up of the Arkansas portion of this once scenic river. If a bad neighbor wants to throw his trash into the stream when no one is looking, it’s still a free country.
For countless eons the river and its watershed and every inhabitant from the smallest organism to the top of the food chain has evolved through natural selection to survive and flourish in its own special niche. Life and death have been in a fragile balance and the welfare of each inhabitant dependent on all the other members of this highly specialized ecosystem. The only foes to this system were natural forces, floods, droughts, storms and anything else nature saw fit to bestow. However, the entire population of this system had a very powerful guardian angel, the watershed. This angel was the great protector and allowed each of her citizens to go about their business of becoming highly adapted to their special zone. Each species, depending on its place in the pecking order, would reproduce enough offspring to feed the ones above it. All could go about their duties of eating and being eaten; thus keeping everything checked and balanced.
The 1996 National Water Quality report that the EPA sends to Congress, identified pollutants and their sources as follows: "Hydrologic modifications and habitat alterations are a growing concern to the States. Hydrologic modifications include activities that alter the flow of water in a stream, such as channelization, dewatering and damming of streams. Habitat alterations include removal of streamside vegetation that protects the stream from high temperatures and scouring of stream bottoms." (No. 841R97008 National Water Quality reports to Congress. Pp. 3)
Let me be the first to admit that huge piles of cow shit on an eroded stream bank is far more beautiful than the natural vegetation that the cattle trampled down. Although pleasing to the eyes it does have a shortcoming. It doesn’t help keep the water from heating up. Herds of cattle wading and urinating in the river also do little to lower the water temperature. They do however, add a whole new chapter to structure fishing. To see a bronzeback rise to a dry fly drifting past a cow’s udder is a sight that will evoke fond memories for years to come.
Smallmouth bass have developed a fondness for cold water and the forage that inhabit that water at least since the last ice age. The things we are allowing to happen to their habitat is going to devastate them, then me. If a complex indicator species like the Smallmouth bass has spent thousands of years evolving to fit a specific niche in a specific environment. Then we, in a relatively short period of time drastically alter that environment, the bass can’t overnight decide to switch careers and become a stagnant water bottom feeder. They perish and are replaced by bottom feeders.
The report that I referenced above identified the leading pollutants, stressors and the leading sources for these detriments. Siltation, one of the factors controlled by a healthy watershed, is the leading culprit, followed by nutrients and bacteria. The biggest contributor to stream pollution by far is agriculture, sometimes referred to as "The earth’s caretakers."I recently obtained a graph showing the discharge rate of the Elevenpoint River. This chart came from station number 07072000 near Ravenden Springs, Ark. The discharge rate is measured in cubic feet per second (CFS.) This report covered a period from 1935 to1994. The average rate of discharge in the last five years of the1930’s showed normal flow to be approximately 2000 to 3000 CFS. During that five-year period the graph shows two spikes the highest topping out at 14000 CFS. By the middle 1940’s the spikes had grown in number and height, with the highest spike topping out at 21000 CFS. In 1949 the highest spike peaked at 27500 CFS. In 1983 the spire topped out at 54000 CFS. That flow will give you a bottom scouring action.
Heavy rains could have been the culprits, but I would suspect the 47 years prior to 1983 would have seen some rains strong enough to rival the monster peak of that year. I feel the watershed was healthy enough during that period to regulate the run off and replenish the aquifers.
Heavy timber cutting was occurring during these years primarily for lumber, now it is being cleared for cattle pasture and row crops. Whatever the reason for the clearing, the watershed is disappearing. Siltation is increasing, and it seems to me that the Smallmouth bass are averaging smaller in size and fewer in number. I don’t mean to imply that there are no large bass left in this portion of the river. I would even concede if pressed that the next state or even world record smallie might be lurking behind a large boulder at this very moment ready to pounce on a hellgrammite nymph. I am saying that the quantity and quality of larger bass are not taking my presentations with the frequency they once did years ago. Maybe it’s just me?
Now we have come to the time to see if troubles do run upstream. I have been picking heavily on Arkansas because that is my primary concern. Just let me say that the Missouri portion of the river is not without faults and some of the same conditions in the tail of the river already exist in the entire body. These blights could make invasion from the lower portion of the river easier to establish a foothold.
Because the soil along the banks of the Elevenpoint River are highly susceptible to erosion and the only defense against this is a healthy watershed, or, a much more costly less beautiful solution of man-made bank barricades that will eventually have to be built. Trees have been falling into the Elevenpoint River since the stream first cut its bed. I suspect that trees have not been falling into the river with the frequency they now are.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is doing some things that will guarantee they are going to fall into the river in even greater numbers. The first thing they accomplished was to legalize twenty-five horsepower outboards to navigate a stream that is between ten and thirty-five yards wide. Now, against the wishes of the people of Dalton, Arkansas, the AGFC is intending to build a modern all weather boat-ramp to insure these boats can be launched with ease and in greater numbers.
I perceive four things that I consider bad from this. First, the wave actions from these larger boats are going to greatly contribute to bank erosion. This is going to put more trees across the river creating a damming action. Second, the fuel and oil residue is going to be much greater than that from canoes and chest waders. Third, the bottom scouring action is going to greatly increase from prop or jet thrust. Fourth, the noise pollution is going to intensely increase to the point that the bald eagles and other noise sensitive creatures are probably going to abandon their homes and move on to quieter places. I will probably join them, as I don’t visit scenic rivers to listen to man-made sounds. Let me concede with an exception to this statement. Registered canoe liveries should be allowed the larger motors to service distressed clients and for other emergencies.
The water flow is slowed down as these trees fall across the stream and warms up. That allows new types of plants to find footholds where before there were none. These new seeds can find their way to the river via cow hooves and cow droppings. Nature has used this method of seed dispersal long before there was a "Johnny Appleseed." New species can choke out the long time resident plants that feed the microorganisms that have adapted to them. This severely disrupts the food chain all the way to the Smallmouth bass.
The dams created by horizontal trees, and thick growths of aquatic plants in the slower and warmer pools of water start backing the stream up. This results in even more slower water and warmer water, with a devastated watershed than can’t help cool it, and a stream bed too clogged to move it. When the water starts backing up it doesn’t stop at the Missouri state line. I feel that through transition zones of warm water mixing with cold water the condition slowly ekes its way upstream, bringing with it the new vegetation and the bank erosion and the new species of fish and wildlife that wasn’t a part of the original ecosystem. You can bet some of these new comers will have survival habits that are detrimental to the long time residents. Maybe even as destructive as Starlings, Zebra mussels and Kudzu just to mention a few of our blunders.
Once we intentionally or accidentally introduce or allow an immigrant species to enter a specialized ecosystem there could be some real surprises waiting for us. Once a system is wounded, as I believe parts of the Elevenpoint may be, infection can enter the wounds and spread if not treated or prevented.
At this point I may as well wade on out into deeper water and make some recommendations. I will start with suggesting that a moratorium should be placed on any further development along the river and its watershed until qualified stream biologist can study the conditions and make recommendations. All building of homes along the bank should be halted. Just because a person can afford to live near the stream does not mean they should be allowed to. If I could afford to build a house in Yellowstone National Park fifty yards from "Old Faithful" because I don’t like to water my lawn, should I be allowed to? Historically, right of ownership has also meant right to destroy. In these areas like I am talking about that mind-set has to be challenged. If a person persist in building and clear cutting in these zones a, scenic river tax, should be levied of humungous proportions and every penny of those taxes put back into the restoration of the river.
If a team of qualified scientist conclude that development along the river is detrimental to its welfare. The owners should not be "Grandfathered" in, but should be bought out at fair market value, less the money required to restore the watershed a distance back from the banks as deemed appropriate by the biologist. After all, the landowners destroyed it and profited from timber and cattle sales and tax subsidies.
Cattle should be immediately banned from ever stepping a hoof into or even near the river. Pastures should be fenced a scientifically determined distance from the stream and stock ponds dug at the farmers expense for the herds to wallow in. If the cattle can’t be stopped from using the stream, can hog farmers demand equal rights to it also?
State wide I think the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission has done a commendable job, and on a limited budget at that. It adds to the mystery of why the Elevenpoint is overlooked and unprotected and why the larger outboards were given the blessings to violate this scenic river. There are many larger lakes and rivers in the near vicinity of the Elevenpoint that can better handle these boats and motors. To even consider spending a large amount of money installing an all weather ramp against the wishes of the people of Dalton and others challenges logic, at least my logic. The river certainly doesn’t need that kind of traffic and the money could be better utilized helping to restore it to a true wilderness stream.
In a few years when I have followed the Eagles upstream to the Missouri portion of the Elevenpoint, I hope someone doesn’t turn to me and remark, "I’m still catching Smallmouth bass, but they don’t seem to be as big or as many as I use to catch. Maybe it’s just me?"
Yours, in hopes of keeping truly wild places; truly wild places.